The Battle Begins: An Otherverse Story
by Dylan Clearbrook
Summary: Kara and Friends take up residence in Otherverse...and the Battle truly begins!
1. DisclaimerWarning

**The Battle Begins:**

**A Warning/Disclaimer**

This story, _**The Battle Begins**_, requires an additional disclaimer as well as a warning.

First, the Disclaimer.  
_**The Battle Begins**_ introduces a new group of individuals which will become regulars in the Otherverse Universe.  
These, individuals, known as Raines Rebels, were created by writer William W. Johnstone and are used here without permission and are not used for profit. I strongly recommend that the reader visit the Authors Page: William W. Johnstone's Ashes Page

I also strongly recommend the reader pickup or order a copy of _**Out of the Ashes**_ by William W. Johnstone as well as the entire Ashes series, now over 27 books!

And Now the Warning!

From this point on, the dark Earth Saga will be taking what may be considered by many to be a heavy Right-Wing slant. While this slant will, for the most part, conform to the author's own beliefs, it should be noted that the views stated in these stories are not necessarily those of the rest of the Otherverse Staff.


	2. Prologue

_**The Battle Begins**_

Prologue

In the dank, dark cellar of a crumbling building they met.

From all over what had once been The United States of America, Canada, and even Mexico, they had traveled to this deserted city to find out what was going on and what should be done.

"She took his head right off!" One dirty punk wailed. The others, leaders of many of the largest gangs, listened half with fear, and half with contempt born of disbelief as the punk told his story. "I was there…. they didn't see me, but I saw them….." His whole body shook as he relived the nightmare.

"Cec had just found a little slit and was about to pass her around to his boys….That's when THEY showed up." He opened his mouth to go on when one of the leaders raised his hand to stop him.

"First, who were THEY?" He demanded, his voice full of scorn. "What did they look like?"

"Th-th-there were three of them at first." The punk stammered. "A blond, a red head with a streak of white running down the middle of her hair, and a brunette. They were all three dressed in urban cammies, but only the brunette carried any weapons. The other two…" he paused shaking his head. "They didn't need no weapons." It was almost a whisper.

"Okay. So what happened then…..You said Cec had found a little slitty."

"Yeah, and she was a real nice looking number." The punk licked his lips, he either did not notice or did not care about the thin line of saliva that began to trickle from the corner of his mouth. "Anyways, These three older slitties show up and tell Jocko to let the little slitty go." He stopped, shaking his head. "Oh man, Cec should have listened. He should have let her go, we coulda found another!"

"Cut the crap!" One of the others snarled.

"Yeah…yeah." The punk shook himself and sat for a moment, just looking at his hands. "He broke her neck." He finally continued. "And…and the blonde slitty lost it. She was standing away from Cec, but before to little slitty could fall to the ground she was standing right next to him. She just swung her arm and hit him with the back of her hand. Oh GOD!" The punk moaned, burying his face in his hands. "She tore his head right off." She shook and looked up and they could all see the horror in his eyes. "She kilt him. And then the other one, the one with the White streak in her hair. She grabbed Carrot by the hands and…and. She tore him in half! She just pulled and tore him in half, throwing the pieces aside!"

The others in the room were quiet now. Waiting for the punk to go on.

"You all knew Plas!" The punk wailed. He didn't wait for an answer though many of the others nodded dumbly. "You all knew how strong he was. He did his plas thing on them…he was gonna burn those bitches down where they stood….only." He stopped "I don't know how long he kept the power on, but when he stopped…" He shook his head again. "They were still standing there. Not a Burn on'em"

"That ain't possible!" One of the others stood, shouting up at the punk. Most of the others knew that he had been kinda close to Plas.

"I'm telling you what I saw." The punk replied in a listless voice. "And then, she just looked at him. The blonde, I mean. She just looked and red beams shot from her eyes. I swear, the top of Plas' head just exploded!"

"I think we've heard enough." Everyone's attention turned to the man setting back in the shadows. Though his face was hidden in shadows, they could all see that he appeared to be wearing a business suit. The way he was sitting gave the impression that he was trying his best not to touch anything in the dirty meeting place.

"Gentlemen, " He went on in his cultured voice…a voice used to command. "You have heard the news. The long and short is that all but one member of Carrot's gang died." The man stood and though his face was still hidden, they could all see the sweat glistening on his bald scalp. "Gentlemen, Carrot's gang was by no means the strongest. But I am here to tell you that, had they been even more powerful, had they had even more Meta's, the results would have been the same."

"Man, you be crazy." Sumba of the Panther gang shouted. "Carrot's gang be nothing. Not if'n they let two slitties take them out."

"Three, actually." The man answered calmly. "One was killed by a former Kansas City cop. But Let me assure you. I have done some research into these ladies. And for your information, they were merely part of a team. There are two others, a male and female and, with the exception of the cop, they are what you would call Meta's.

"You know so much, then who are they and what are they doing here!" Sumba demanded.

"I am sure you all remember Superman." The man paused at the sudden intake of breath. "Well, it appears that at least three of these people are from the same world or, as have the exact same powers. With one difference. It seems that they may be even more powerful."

"Powerful enough to kick your butt?" One of the gang leaders called out, thinking he had recognized the speaker at last.

"Quite possibly." The man answered, unperturbed. "They have already neutralized the Shard and, with the aid of others, they have set back some of my plans." He raised a hand. "But it was asked if I knew who they are. Well, I can't tell you their real names, but I can tell you that they come from another universe and that their leader goes by the name of Supergirl! And I can tell you that they are hear to stay!" He stepped forward and they could all see the anger filled visage of Lex Luthor. "That is why I have called you all here. This, my neandrathalic friends, is a council of war!"

They came from all over North America. The summons had gone out weeks ago and, as the days passed, leaders of the various strongholds of civilization that spotted the map made their way to the massive fortress situated in the pan-handle of Texas.

This was the base camp of the group that called themselves the Rebels. No one knew where they came from or how they got there. Eyewitnesses claimed that they just appeared out of a strange mist, a whole column of soldiers, men and women, in Tiger stripe fatigues, trucks, jeeps, and even tanks.

They had come in and instantly set to work. Their first order of business had been to set up a base camp. They had then began fanning out always asking questions, trying to find out where they were and what the local situation was.

They had quickly run afoul of the local warlords in the area. In a matter of months, the warlords were on the run and the Rebels had set up a law and order zone. A place of rebuilding.

Now the leaders of communities from all over North America sat waiting in a huge auditorium nervously eyeing the armed guards that bracketed each and every entrance. One thing they had all noticed when entering Rebel held territory was that the Rebels were a no nonsense people. Every where they looked soldiers and private citizens alike went about their daily business, armed to the teeth! Signs at the borders warned prospective criminals that the life span of punks was counted in the minutes within those boundaries.

A hush settled over the crowd as the guards moved. They didn't seem to snap to attention, but it was obvious that their alertness had risen considerably. They watched, in a mixture of fear and curiosity as a young man, his tiger stripe uniform devoid of any rank insignia, entered the room. He wore a red-bandana wrapped around his head and many of the older men smiled as they noticed the resemblance to the old Movie character Rambo. Their smiles dipped as the man stopped behind a podium, a Chicago-piano, a .45 Thompson Machine gun, propped on his hip, pointing towards the ceiling.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming." He began. Several of the women looked at his ruggedly handsome features and were surprised at the softness of his voice. "I am Col. Buddy Raines, Commander of this contingent of Raines Rebels." This was no news to any one. They had all heard the story that the Rebels claimed to belong to a much larger force and that they had been on maneuvers when they found themselves in this, to them, strange world.

"I called you all here to discuss some rather startling events that have been occurring." He opened his mouth to continue, stopping when a woman stood in the center of the auditorium. "Yes, Ma'am?"

"Mr. Raines." The woman started, "I and those with me would like to go on record as being in complete disagreement with what you have done here!"

Buddy looked at the woman a full minute, letting the silence drag on. Finally, he nodded.

"Ooookay." He said finally, trying to figure out what the woman had said had to do with anything. The woman, prepared for some defense, faltered uncertainly when no defense was offered.

" I …that is…we would like to know what you intend to do about the deplorable conditions in your area!" She rallied. Buddy sighed and shook his head, seeing that he was not going to be able to continue until he dealt with this fool.

"Ladies and Gentleman, " he said in an apologetic tone. "We'll continue in a moment." Most of the crowd settled back, interested in seeing how this would come out.

"Miss…" Buddy motioned towards the standing woman, waiting for her to supply her name.

"Mz. Ingols-Pruess." The woman answered haughtily. "From the Ingols combine in Washington State."

"Well, MZ. Inglos-Pruess" Buddy drawled. " Perhaps you would tell me what it is exactly you disagree with?"

"Why, your entire gun-worshipping society!" The woman exclaimed, as if shocked that Buddy would even have to ask. "You have brought this area of the country back to Gun law, spitting on the constitution, stepping all over individual rights. You have returned to the law of the jungle!" She spread her arms, now talking to the other leaders in the auditorium "My God, they have public hangings here!"

"Ah." Buddy, seemingly unperturbed, nodded knowingly. He knew what he was dealing with now. "Mz Ingols-Pruess. I think I understand now. Ma'am, I could sit here and argue the point with you, but frankly, I have better things to do with my time. We have sit up a society that we like. We have virtually no crime. We have put people back to work. We have started schools up again. We are getting civilization going again. As to the Constitution, I could argue that we adhere to it more closely than you. Do we allow punks and criminals to hide behind it? No we do not. Do we execute criminals? Yes we do. But I can assure you that each and every person accused of a crime here is given a fair, swift trial. Eight times out of ten, I admit, a trial is unnecessary because usually the would be criminal is shot down by his would be victims. The long and short of it is, Mz Ingols-Pruess, we did not ask for your approval, we do not care if we have your approval. We have a society that works for us. We did not ask you all here to try to convince you to join us. Frankly, we could care less. However, I felt it worth a shot to at least communicate with the other communities and see if there was anyway we could work together." He looked down at a clip board on the podium and flipped a couple of sheets. "We only contacted certain communities, Mz Ingols-Pruess, and I have to say, that your was not one of them. From what my scouts have told me, your community is in a shambles. Your people are living hand to mouth, scrounging through ruins. You have made no attempt to clean up your community, nor have you done anything to get the hospitals or schools going again. What are your people waiting for, Mz Ingols-Pruess?"

"The government…" the woman, now on the defensive, faltered.

"The government is gone, Mz Ingols-Pruess" Buddy over rode her. "Right now, there are only two groups that could even be considered a government. Ours and that of Lex Luthor."

"Well, at Least Mr. Luthor wouldn't be putting guns in the hands of everyone!" the woman's voice was shrill.

"I'm sure." Buddy drawled. "Lady, We have business to attend to here. If you would like to discuss this afterwards, then I will be happy to debate the issue with you. But right now, I would appreciate it if you sat down and shut that damned liberal trap of yours!" With out waiting for a response, he turned back to the rest of the audience.

"As I was saying, certain events have occurred that have the Rebels a bit puzzled. Where we came from, we did not have any thing resembling the Metas we have found here." A large screen lowered from the ceiling behind him, depicting a blonde woman in a blue, red, and yellow costume. "Does anyone here know anything about this…Supergirl?"

End of

The Battle Begins: Prologue

Click here to go to Chapter 1


	3. Chapter 1

_**The Battle Begins**_

**Chapter 1**

It was a desolate spot, perched atop the highest peak of the Colorado Mountains. Bare of trees or any other vegetation, the rocky summit was the prefect place for the memorial.

It had taken Kara a matter of minutes to carve the basic shape of the monument out of the rock and leveling the surrounding area so that it stood out, easily visible from the air for miles around. For the next few days, she and Mon El and labored to enhance the monument. Polishing and re-polishing the granite, using a combination of heat vision and intense friction they had worked the stone until it took on vivid colors of red and yellow.

And now…now they all stood beside the finished product. Mon El, his arm snaked around the waist of his fiancée, Jennifer Walters (Once known as the She-Hulk and now Otherverse's First, and thus far only, Green Lantern), stood quiet, tears filling his eyes. Nearby, Kara shining in her new red and gold costume, stood with her head raised to the sky in the manner of prayer normal to Kryptonians. Though she appeared calm and collected, the white knuckled grip with which her right hand gripped the left hand of her lover belied her true feelings. For her part, Rogue was finding it hard to reign in her own emotions. Though she had never met the man, or any of his incarnations, She still retained a good portion of Kara's memories. A benefit, or curse depending on one's point of view, of her old mutant absorption powers. When she had absorbed Kara's power, the power that had transformed her for all time from an Earth mutant to a Kryptonian, she had also absorbed Kara's memories. And now those memories threatened to swallow her as she felt what Kara must be feeling.

Standing off to the side, the twins clung to one another. Kara had brought them to Otherverse for a visit and because she felt they should be here for this dedication. Like Rogue, they had never met the man personally, but they had known of him, as had everyone from their respective Earths. And like all those people, they would have mourned had he died. And now, here they were, dedicating a monument to the Otherverse Superman. It was as close as they ever wanted to come to contemplating the death of the greatest hero to ever exist…in any Probability!

Reaching down absently, Carrie softly scratched the ears of the one being in this small group that had actually known and loved the Otherverse Superman. For his part, Krypto sat on his haunches, head held high as if quite aware of the solemn nature of the occasion and showing his approval. Though he had seen his master both good and bad, the love that had existed was still there.

They stood in silence, knowing that far over head, in the orbital satellite that now housed the entire Kandorian population, all work had ceased as the last remnants of Kryptonian society paid it's final respects to one that, though not of their world or Probability, was a Kryptonian, none-the less. And, if truth be known, it was also a way to say good-bye to the Kal El they had known, though he had been gone for many years. Zor El wept unashamedly as he held his wife. They were tears of closure, tears for a beloved nephew and, by extension, tears for a bother and a family long gone.

An intrusive beeping sprang from Zor's control panel, accompanying a red alarm signal.

Zor savagely stabbed at the receive key, his countenance promising harsh consequences to anyone disturbing him at this time unless it was the most dire of emergencies. His eyes widened as the news gathered from the satellite's sensors were fed to his screen, all anger forgotten. Instead, near panic replaced anger. He rechecked what the sensors were telling him and slammed his hand down on the alarm switch that would broadcast an alarm throughout the station and Kara's fortress.

Jenny tensed as the alarm on her wrist-com sprang to life. The Wrist units were an invention of Zor El and allowed all the heroes to stay in contact with each other and the computer back in the Fortress. As she activated the small unit, shutting down the alarm so that it would not disturb the others, Jenny made a mental note that the twins would need to be given units as well. Otherverse was not a place to wonder around without some means of communicating with some one. With her will, she focused her Lantern energy around herself, forming a tight bubble within which she could speak and listen without disturbing the others. Though she understood the solemnity of the situation, unlike the others, Superman had only been a name to her, not something or some one real.

"This is Jenny." She voice activated the wrist unit. "What's up?"

"Zor El here, Jenny." The Kandorian's voice came through loud and clear and clearly agitated. "Sensors show a large force of possible hostiles moving in on your location. Closer examinations show that the force consists of metas!"

"Got it." Jenny was instantly alert and expanded her bubble to enclose everyone in the area. The first to notice was Mon.

"Trouble coming." She told him in answer to his questioning look. Then, raising her voice. "Heads up everyone. We're about to have company!"

"Company?" Kara was instantly alert, her eyes narrowing as she turned her attention to Jenny. "What kind of company?"

"Metas." Was the reply. "And according to your father, most likely hostile." Kara turned, taking stock of their situation, her gaze stopping and lingering on the Twins.

"We can take care of ourselves." Carrie answered the unspoken question, her fists balled at her sides. Kara nodded, making a mental note to keep an eye on Carrie. Carrie seemed to be the more hot headed of the two. She caught Rogue's slight smile and upraised eyebrow and knew that her lover had guessed what she was thinking and was silently questioning her. She could almost hear the words. "Like mother like daughter?" She shook her head slightly and cut her eyes back to the twins and Rogue nodded. She understood that it was now her job to keep an eye on the twins and to let someone know if they got in over their heads.

Rogue looked down and noticed that Krypto was now standing in front of the twins, his hackles raised, growling at something as yet unseen in the west. Activating her telescopic vision, Rogue could now see that a group of no less than twenty flying metas were arrowing through the sky in their direction. A tap on the shoulder from Mon and a nod of his head towards the east brought her attention to another group, of equal or larger size moving fast across the ground from that direction. She nodded. The ground-based metas would be hampered in their ascent of the mountain. The metas approaching via air travel would have no such problem.

"What now?" Jenny asked, she was tensed for action and waiting for whatever was to come.

"We wait." Kara stated through thin lips. "We can't very well attack them without knowing who they are or what they want."

"We know who they are!" Carrie piped up.

"We probably do." Rogue cut in. "But that is what separates us from them. We make sure we are not going against innocents." Carrie nodded her understanding even if her face showed her distaste. She relaxed slightly at the wave of reassurance flowed over their empathic link from Karen.

The group moved into a tight circle, back to back as the metas arrived and began to surround them.

"Well well well," one dirty looking meta, looking like a Mad Max movie reject, spoke up. "Looks like the Big Man was right. One swinger and five slitties." He smiled, showing yellowed, rotting teeth and took a step forward. His attention was on Mon. "Boy, you got more than you can handle here. What say you share a bit and we'll take these little ladies and have some fun?"

"I don't think so." Mon grated through clenched teeth. He fought a natural urge to reach out and shove Jenny behind him for protection.

"Now that ain't friendly." The punk shook his head and looked back at the men behind him. "He's not being friendly, boys, is he?"

"Not friendly t'all, Screamer." One of the group called back. "He's got five and we ain't got none. At least he could give us those two young 'uns. I figure they be good for a couple of…"

"That's enough!" Kara stepped forward, anger plain on her face. She stole a glance towards Rouge and the twins and noticed that the girls were straining against the hands Rogue had on their shoulders, their faces white with rage. "I think it's time you left."

"And if we don't?" The leader stood, crossing his arms, a smirk of derision on his face. He had heard what the punk in the meeting had said about these so-called heroes, but, as with most of his kind, he was too stupid to realize that there really were those that were more powerful than he. He jerked his head. "Take them!" He told his men. The metas sprang forward and met…pain!

The first meta to reach Kara screamed in agony as she back-handed him out of her way, her blow smashing his jaw and sending blood flying as he tumbled away.

Mon El jumped into the fray, leaping over the rushing metas to land before the leader.

"You're mine!" The enraged Daxamite snarled. He waded in and then grunted as the leader swung out, his fist catching Mon in the stomach. Mon doubled up as the wind was knocked out of him. He looked up as the leader advanced toward him, a sneer on his face. Mon squinted slightly and twin red beams of heat vision flashed from his eyes to strike the punk in the chest. Though he stopped, the only damage Mon could see was to the punks outlandish clothes, burned away to reveal a massive, muscular chest. Okay, so the guy was super strong and had at least some degree of invulnerability. Mon gathered his feet under him and sprang forward, the top of his head catching the leader in the face.

The punk staggered backwards, his arms flailing. Mon reached out and grabbed one arm and spun around and then pulled up and over. The punk screamed as his shoulder was dislocated and continued to scream as he sailed up and over Mon's shoulder to land head first in the granite at their feet. Dust and gravel fountained up from the point of impact, covering everyone in a light dusting of gray. As the leader feebly tried to rise, Mon grasped his dirty hair, pulling his head back.

"Nighty night, punk." Mon hissed. He put all the force he had into slamming the punks face back into the rock. Without a sound, the punk twitched once and then was still.

Jenny had watched Mon's action with a small smile. She was well aware that his rage had come from his feelings for her. The knowledge sent a warm tingle down her spine. Sighing, she turned her full attention back to the problem at hand. Though it did not take all her attention as she willed bolt after bolt pure energy to lash out, slamming punks off the side of the mountain or surrounding them with globes of energy from which there was no escape. It took enough attention, however, to keep her from noticing the punk that slipped up behind her. With limbs that stretched and twined as the punk stretched himself in a manner reminiscent of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, the punk sprang on Jenny's back, thinking to overpower her and take her out of the battle. He soon realized the extent of his error.

"Now that was real stupid!" Jenny admonished as she snatched the stretching punk off her back, pulling him down in front of her. The punk had one brief glimpse of a giant green fist descending then…nothing.

Jenny straightened up and looked around, seeing what mischief she could get in now.

"I want you two." The Punk leered at Carrie and Karen as he approached. Though he was well aware that his mates were getting tossed around like so many rag dolls, he had made up his mind that he would just snatch these two slitties and run as far as he could. He was slobbering already as his deranged mind envisioned hours and hours of sexual depravations with these two beauties.

"Gross." Carrie wrinkled her nose in disgust and seemingly backed away. The punk followed, unaware that he had just been maneuvered into a position between the two girls. As the punk, unaware of his danger, continued his advance on Carrie, Rouge turned her attention to her own problems. She had been keeping an eye on the twins but now felt they could handle themselves.

She herself faced two punks that were really starting to irritate her. One, it seemed, possessed not only super strength, but the ability to turn his entire body into a gas at will and then reform into a solid being instantly. And, it seemed, that he also possessed at least some degree of precognition. As she swung, his body would dissolve into a gaseous form, allowing her swing to pass through harmlessly. Then he would be solid again and striking back. One such strike caught Rogue in the mouth and for the first time in a long time, Rogue actually felt physical pain and the taste of blood filled her mouth as her lip split.

The flow of blood stopped almost as soon as it started as her Kryptonian healing powers kicked in. Her eyes narrowed in anger, Rogue thought of the best way to fight this foe. Obviously some gleam in her eye showed for the punk grew suddenly wary. He watched as she advanced, taking a deep breath as she swung once again. And, true to form, his form dissolved into a gas. Yet this time Rogue was ready. She released the deep breath she had taken; using what Kara had told her was one of their more useless and silly powers. Her super breath created an instant gale like force that swept into the gaseous punk, dispersing him to the four winds. She was not afraid for the punk's life. It seemed most likely that, like other gaseous beings she had known, that he would eventually pull himself together enough to reform, but it would take a while. For now, he was out of the fight.

Rogue felt a blow on the back of her neck, followed by a weird tingling feeling. It was a sensation she had felt enough in her life so it was no effort for her to realize that who ever had struck her was now trying to absorb her powers! Just as she, herself, had once absorbed the powers of others. She turned slowly to look into the eyes of the punk and saw his eyes widening as he felt himself filled with more power than he had ever dreamed possible! For a brief moment she wondered if this was what her own victims had felt when she had stole their powers and memories. Fortunately for her, this punks power did not seem to be as strong as her own had been. While Rogue could have drained a person temporarily within a matter of seconds, this punk, however, had just tapped into the surface of her powers when she broke away.

"I don't think so, leech." She hissed, unknowingly pegging the punk's nickname. The punk flinched as she grasped the front of his filthy tunic and swung him up over her head and then down, face first, into the rock at her feet. She didn't even give him a second glance as she turned, looking for the next threat. There was no need. For a little while, at least, Leech was enjoying an involuntary nap.

"Stand still!" The punk hissed. He stopped, wary when Carrie stopped and started smiling. He never found out what the twins had planned, however. Before he or they could make another move, a white streak sprang at the punk. The dirty, depraved punk had time for one horrified scream that ended in a bubbling gurgle. The twins looked on in disbelief as Krypto stood over the punk, his muzzle red with blood as the youth thrashed, hold hands to his torn throat, suffocating in his own blood.

The twins were shaken out of their state of shock when another meta, swooping down out of the sky, snatched Karen by the hair and hauled her up, shooting into the air. Kryptonian or not, pulled hair hurts. Karen screamed in pain and shock, her arms wind milling as she attempted to flail at her captor. For a brief instant panic over took her, replaced quickly by a rage she would later conclude was a combination of her own rage and that of Carrie felt through the empathic link.

"You bastard!" She screamed. "You want to fly? Let's fly!" With that, she focused her mind, blocking out the pain from her scalp and shot skyward at a velocity that her attacker could never have matched. Within seconds, they were traveling through the thin upper atmosphere. She felt his fingers slacken as he struggled for breath. She yanked her head and winced at the sharp pain. It was enough, however, to free her from his grasp. She spun in the air and brought her left foot up against the left side of his head. Then, with out a backward glance, she dove back down to where the others were still battling. She met a concerned Carrie halfway there and smiled a grim smile. Together the twins went back to the battle. Behind them, forgotten, the punk meta began his descent to earth. Passed out from the lack of oxygen, his fall was completely out of control. There were no witnesses as his body splattered onto the rocks of a far peak.

Rogue had seen the punk take off with Karen and had leapt to intercept them when she seemingly came up against a steel wall. Clearing her eyes of stars, she looked around to see a smallish punk smiling at her. He raised his hands but whatever he had planned was cut off by a shriek of pain as Krypto took him from behind, sinking his razor sharp teeth deep into the little man's calf.

Rogue turned her attention elsewhere, seeing that Krypto had that one under control. A quick check with telescopic vision showed Karen and Carrie rapidly returning to the fray. There was no sign of Karen's attacker. Satisfied, Rogue cast around for another punk and found herself face to face with a punk wielding flaming hands.

"Burn, Bitch!" The punk snarled. Fire, blue with heat, sprang from his hands, engulfing Rogue. For a full minute he kept it up. Then, smirking knowingly, he allowed the fire to die, confident of what he would find. His confidence was shaken when he met the angry glare of a totally nude Rogue. As far as he could see, his fire had only burnt off her clothes and done no real damage.

"You twerp!" Rogue raged, closing on him. "Do you know how hard it was to get that costume?" She raised her hand and then stopped, bewildered as the punk fainted…out of sheer terror of the pain she was sure to inflict upon him. Crossing her arms below her breast, she looked down at the punk with disgust. It was only then that she noticed that the sounds of battle had faded. Looking around, she saw that everyone was looking at her. Mon whistled and then grunted an ooof when Jenny's elbow buried itself in his mid-section. He doubled over, a smile on his face.

Rogue looked over at Kara with a totally disgusted look on her face.

"Well shit." She summed up her feelings. That was all it took. The battle tension broke as everyone doubled over laughing. Only Krypto kept alert and soon his barking reminded them all that they still had another group of metas to deal with.

Headquarters - Borger, Texas

Rebel Territory! From a point in the panhandle, near Lake Meridith, it spread out. Going as far as the Texas / Oklahoma border to the north, to the Oklahoman city of Cheyenne to the east, almost reaching Lubbock Texas to the south and far enough west to encompass the New Mexico city of Glenrio. There were no big cities in Rebel Territory. The largest city had been Amarillo but Buddy, taking a lesson from his father, had leveled the city to the ground. In this day and age, cities were no longer the center of civilization, but rather the breeding grounds for disease and human trash. And, as Buddy had discovered to his distaste, these cities were no different than the cities in his own reality: Their sewers and lower levels had become the bastions of the cannibalistic Night People. Or, as most Rebels called them, Creepies. Human trash that had taken to existing on the flesh of others…usually cut from the victim while the victim was still alive!

When the 506th Brigade had rolled through the fog into this new world, they had been lost, not knowing what had happened to them or how they had ended up where they did. Yet the training and the discipline of the Rebels had held them together, getting them through day by day until they realized that the world they now found themselves in was really no better off than the one they had come from. And they realized something else…. they were needed! Punks and thugs roamed the countryside, preying on the weak, gathering in the cities, working hand in hand with the Creepies (often trading them hapless victims in exchange for their own safety…no one liked the thought of being eaten) setting up feudal estates of which they were lords and masters and the law-abiding citizens their virtual slaves.

Here, as in their own world, man had been taught from early ages that it was wrong to protect ones self and ones property. They had been taught that victims' rights were less than those of the punks and criminals. They had been taught to never, no never, shoot anyone trying to harm them or steal from them with one of those nasty ol guns. Buddy and the 506th had jumped right into the fray. It did not take long for the punks to learn one hard lesson…man, you just don't screw with them Rebels. They'll kill ya dead and not blink a friggin eye!

The 506th had swept through the area they now controlled like a wild fire. A full Rebel brigade, they had numbered over eight thousand personnel. Unlike traditional brigades of armies past, a Rebel brigade was virtually self contained. Each of the four battalions maintained a sizable infantry and more than enough field artillery to get the job done. Each battalion also had a sizable complement of tanks and MBT's (main battle tanks) and numerous other fighting vehicles. And where ever a battalion or even a company of Rebels went, small communities sprang up as people gathered together, each vowing that no punks would bother them again…not and live to tell about it. They all vowed, to a person, that no government would ever take their guns again!

There were, of course, those living in the territory that had no use for the Rebel philosophy. These people either learned to cope or, as was the case most of the times, left….quickly. It soon became known what sorts of people were and were not desired in Rebel territory. If you wanted to lay up on your backside and collect welfare, then carry your ass on. If you believed in hard work, weren't looking for a free ride, able to mind your own business and allow your neighbor to do the same, then….welcome! If you were one of those that blamed society for making young men and boys become punks, then you would probably not make it in Rebel territory. If you were one of those that sincerely believed in the claptrap spewed for years by a liberal held government ("Lock your car and take the keys…Don't let a good boy go bad!" Horseshit…good boys don't steal cars…Punks and thugs steal cars.) then you would be offended by the Rebel's idea of swift, hard justice. If you believed that a person that violated the rights of a law-abiding citizen lost his or her own rights, then you would be at home with the Rebels.

All in all, things were peaceful in the territory held by the Rebels. But the Rebels had been lucky. They had years of experience in warfare behind them, but never had they faced…metas!

Colonel Buddy Raines ran a hand across his face as he paused from wading through the mountain of paper work on his makeshift desk.

"Problems, Boss?" He looked up to see Rita, his aide / bodyguard smiling at him, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

"Now I know why dad never wanted this head ache." He sighed. "Sometimes I wish I was back running the Rat Pack."

"Sometimes, hell!" Rita snorted. "You're always bitchin about that." The Rat Pack had been Buddy's first assignment with the Rebels. Just because his father was the over-all commander didn't mean he was cut any slack. Everything he had gained in the Rebels had been due to his own hard work and abilities. The Rat Pack had been the first step that had eventually led to command of the 506th. There, as Captain Raines, Buddy had led his hand picked men and women into some of the dirtiest, hardest situations. The soldiers of the Rat Pack were the Elite of the 506th. A combination of men and women trained by Ex-Green Berets, Marine Force Recon personnel, and Navy Seals. Each member was a one man (or woman) killing machine, experts in small squad tactics, explosives, guerrilla warfare, and survival. And they were, each and every one, totally devoted to Buddy Raines and the Rebel movement initiated by his father, Ben Raines!

"Yeah, well, at least I wouldn't be sitting behind this desk!" He pushed away and stood, wincing and rubbing his lower back.

"Yeah, I can see it's making you soft."

"Soft hell!" Buddy glared at her. "There's not a damned thing soft about me!"

"Can I check?" Rita took a provocative step forward, her lips curving into a smile as she let her eyes travel up and down his hard, muscular body. A blatant sexual look that caused Buddy to blush slightly. He was saved from having to come up with a reply as the door flew open.

"Boss, we got a problem." Betsy, Buddy's personal Communications tech, rushed in and, without waiting for a response, moved towards the map that covered a full wall of his CP (Command Post). "Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, has hit a snag." She traced her finger upward on the map from Borger until she found what she wanted. A red pin was then put in place…squarely over a tiny circle representing the Oklahoma town of Woodward. Just outside the lines of the territory claimed by the Rebels. "A gang of punks is entrenched here."

"Civilian situation?" Buddy demanded, the playful banter with Rita forgotten.

"Not good." Betsy shook her head. "Forced slave labor for the men and older women." Her face tightened, her cheeks reddening with suppressed anger, "Forced prostitution for the younger women and girls...and sometimes the boys."

"Okay, so why come to me with it?" Buddy asked, " Who's in command of Bravo Company? Why didn't he go through his Batt. Comm? Does he want permission to cross our lines and take them out? He's got it…though I'm surprised he's even asking."

"That's not it, Boss." Betsy again shook her head. "He took the initiative and moved on the town. Unfortunately, he didn't have accurate Intel." She shrugged. "The punks have Metas with them and, to put it mildly, Bravo Company got their asses handed to them. Finally the Commander called them out. They've pulled back a full fifty miles and are licking their wounds. Twenty dead and over fifty wounded." This last brought a stunned silence. That was the most casualties any Rebel Brigade, not to mention Company, had suffered in years. "The rest of 3rd Battalion is spread out on patrol. 2nd Battalion is out of pocket as well, they are in Route to the Air Base in Ft. Worth."

"Okay." Buddy paced, his fingers pulling at his chin as he thought things out. "Damned good thing Dad didn't have to worry about Metas." He murmured. He straightened and looked at the tech. "Okay, call up 1st Batt and get them geared up."

"They can be underway in about 5 hours." Betsy confirmed, after consulting a clipboard.

"Good, They can go relieve Bravo and 2nd Batt can remain here as home guard." Buddy turned to Rita. "Get the rest of my team together and draw rations for a week…. we're taking a trip to Oklahoma."

"Like hell you are!" "No way!" Both Rita and Betsy blurted at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise and then turned back to Buddy, both of them letting him know, quite loudly and colorfully, what they thought of the idea. He listened to them for a full five minutes before raising a hand.

"Get 1st Batt. moving, Betsy." He told the comm. tech. He turned to Rita as the tech reluctantly left to carry out her orders. "Let me take a wild guess. You have a problem with me going?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm, as if he had not heard a thing the two women had been saying.

"Dammit, Buddy!" Rita stormed. "You have no business going out there. You're the commanding officer of the Rebels….we can't risk you!"

"Correction." Buddy's face had turned stern. "I am the Commander of the 506th Brigade. My father is the commanding officer of the Rebels."

"Buddy, face it. We've been here for a year and a half. And no one, not one person, can tell us how we got here, much less how to get back. We are stuck here. General Ben Raines may be the CG of the Rebels back home, but we are here and whether you like it or not, you're the man!"

Buddy turned and paced towards a window and stood glaring out. He knew Rita was right, but he didn't have to like it. His face melted into a slow smile as he recalled the many times he and the other brigade commanders had tried to keep his father out of the field…and how often they had failed.

"Okay." He turned and Rita frowned, seeing the smile. "You want me to be like my father…I will be." He walked over to a rack and picked up his battle harness and shrugged into it. "Let's go!" He didn't wait for an answer as he picked up the old Thompson that had become as much his trademark as it was his father's and headed out the door.

"Wait!" Rita hollered, her fists clenched at her sides as the door closed behind him. The door opened back up and Buddy stuck his head back in.

"Coming?"

"Oh you're like your father alright you thick headed…." Her voice trailed down as she continued to mutter under her breath. She slung her M-16 and slammed the office door shut behind her as she followed.

"You said something?" Buddy asked, smiling his best sickly sweet smile.

"No!" Rita's tone was sulky.

Buddy's departure was delayed, though not through any actions on the part of either Rita or Betsy. He had stepped out of his CP, almost running into his Brigade Sergeant Major and the battalion commanders of 1st and 2nd Battalions.

"Something on your mind, Gentlemen?" He demanded. What he got was not at all what he expected.

"Just what do you think you are up to, you young punk?" Sergeant Major Paul Anderson demanded. He was one of the older Rebels, having been with the movement since the Great War in the late eighties in their own world. One of the few that could recall with clarity the way the world was before. Buddy had been about 8 or 9 (he wasn't quite sure) when the balloon went up and like many his age, had blocked out the memories of those first few years afterwards.

"Paul?" Buddy was surprised by the fierce tone in the Sgt. Major's voice.

"Stand easy, short stuff!" The Batt Comm of 1st Battalion ordered Rita, seeing her shift her M16 slightly. Ever since they had found themselves stuck in this strange world, she had appointed herself as Buddy's bodyguard, much as that feisty little Apache, Jersey, had appointed herself to the position of Ben Raines' bodyguard. And, like Jersey, Rita would follow her commander through the gates of hell, armed only with a mouthful of spit, if he ordered it.

Paul Anderson poked a thick finger in the center of Buddy's barrel chest.

"Betsy just relayed your orders." He told his commanding officer. "And if you think we are going to allow you to just wander off you've got another think coming."

"I thought this was an army, not a debating society, Sgt. Major." Buddy growled.

"Yes sir, it is." Lt. Col. Jamison, Batt Comm of 2nd battalion and Buddy's Executive Officer spoke up. "And we will follow your orders, sir. But we will not allow you to risk yourself needlessly. If we ever get back home, we are not going to stand up before Gen Raines and tell him we let his son get himself killed."

"Face it, son." Anderson's tone had softened. "You know good and well your father was grooming you to take over the Rebel Army should anything happen to him. Now that burden is going to fall on Tina's shoulders, or maybe even Anna's." Buddy nodded. Both Tina and Anna were his sisters. Tina adopted by Ben long before Buddy had found his father. Anna was the Romanian girl Ben had adopted a few years earlier when the Rebels had made their second excursion over seas.

"They'll have to do it because chances are we won't be going home." The Batt Comm of 1st battalion said. "Hell Buddy, this is our home now. Like it or not. And like it or not, it's time you started accepting the fact that you are more than just a brigade commander. Brigade hell! DO you realize that since we've been here, just from this small area, we've picked up enough people to form two more brigades? As of right now, we can field over 24,000 personnel!" He looked Jamison and, after receiving a nod, he nodded to the Sgt. Major. The Sgt. Major grimaced and placed a small box in Buddy's hand. Mystified, Buddy opened the box and stared without comprehension at the small, silver stars.

"We've canvassed all the troops sir, even your own people, the decision was unanimous. We know we are here to stay. We want the Rebel movement to take root and grow here and we need you to do that. We will follow your orders sir, but we reserve the right to keep you from getting your ass shot off."

"Paul…I can't …you can't…."

"Oh yes we can." Anderson answered with a smile. "How do you think your father was promoted to his position?" He stood back and did something Rebels very seldom did. He came to attention and brought his right arm up in a perfect military salute, the Batt Comms following suit. "The Rebels are ready for your orders…General Raines!"

"I am not a damned general." Buddy groused. He was setting in the passenger seat of an armored HumVee (commonly called a hummer), glaring at the stars, still in the box, in his hands. In the hummer with him was his personal team. Rita – the bodyguard, Betsy – communications, and Scooter – his driver.

"Begging the General's pardon." Scooter broke in on his thoughts. He paused as he twisted the wheel of the hummer to avoid a large pothole. Like the roads in the old world, as many of the Rebels were beginning to call their home reality, the roads in this new one were badly deteriorated. Years of neglect were beginning to take their toll. "But you are." He finished. In the back seat, Betsy was gripping her radio with white knuckled hands as Scooter crowded the ass end of an Abrams MBT (Main Battle Tank). For her part, Rita was taking in the slowly passing scenery, her M-16, as always, in her hands.

Five hours after his sudden promotion, he had pulled out with the 1st battalion of the newly designated 1st Brigade. They didn't have time to wait, so Buddy had left Jamison in charge of forming up the two new Brigades Veterans of the old 506th (renamed the 1st) would be shifted around to make sure the two new brigades had seasoned soldiers. Buddy was fairly certain that the 1st Brigade, and especially the 1st battalion of the 1st Brigade, would still maintain a majority of the veterans since it was the brigade assigned to birddog him.

Though less than a hundred miles away, the condition of the roads would mean the brigade would not reach Bravo Company's position until the next morning. Buddy had already sent the Rat Pack, under the command of Captain Dianne (no last name…like many children after the war, she had no recollection of her parents or what her surname might have been.), out ahead to scout things out. They had already made contact with Bravo Company and then passed on towards Woodward. Knowing Dianne, she would get as close as possible and try to grab a prisoner. Dianne was one of the best at silent ops Buddy had under his command. Better, in his opinion, than he was himself!

Captain Dianne made a motion with a hand and instantly the members of her Rat Pack became one with their surroundings.

They had slowed their approach, removing or taping down any equipment that might jingle or jangle for silent movement, when the point man had signaled contact. No one moved and Dianne kept her eyes on the point man, waiting for him to either signal the all clear or give some indication of what the situation was. Finally the point man held up a hand, showing one finger. He then made a few more gestures and Dianne nodded her understanding. A single unknown had been spotted. Sneaking up on the enemy position. Dianne was not one of those that believed 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Until she discovered otherwise, any unknown would be treated as a potential hostile.

She caught the eyes of three of her team and made a snatching motion. The soldiers nodded their understanding and faded into the underbrush. They would move around and try a silent grab. Only if they were sure of failure would they resort to killing the unknown.

Gathering the remainder of her team, Dianne then backed off to wait for her snatchers to return.

"Captain Dianne on the horn, Boss." Betsy called from the hummer. At the moment, Buddy was cursing the roads that had slowed his battalion even more. So bad were the conditions, one of the MBT's had thrown a track. The convoy was halted until the vehicle could be repaired and made ready to move on. "Rat pack has a prisoner." Betsy filled him in as he returned to his Hummer and reached for the mic.

"This Little Eagle, whatcha got chickie?" He drawled, depressing the button to speak. Betsy shook her head at the Boss's complete lack of radio protocol.

"They just pulled out, Sir."

Buddy was standing outside a small camp set up by the forward unit, talking to the Company Commander of Bravo Company.

"Everyone?" Buddy gave the commander his full attention, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"No sir," The Captain shook his head. "Just the Metas. The rest of the punks are still holed up in the town. They've threatened to start killing off their slaves if we move on them."

"Any idea…."

"They moved towards the north and are making quick time towards Colorado." Betsy broke in, anticipating Buddy's question. "They've linked up with other groups but the people we have trailing them insist that they are heading full speed towards Colorado."

"The person your Rat Pack snatched seems to collaborate that, sir." The Captain confirmed.

"And where is this person and what was he doing when he was snatched?"

"It's a female, sir, and from what Captain Dianne has told me, she was there on her own, getting Intel."

"I wonder who she's working for." Buddy mused. He motioned for the Captain to lead the way. "Let's go talk to this female."

Whatever he had been expecting, it was not the self-assured woman standing in the middle of a tent set up by Bravo Company as Buddy's temporary CP.

Buddy took a long look at the woman while she returned the scrutiny and then moved behind the makeshift desk. He unhooked his web belt and slung it across the desk, making sure the flap oh the pistol holster was open, granting ready access to the colt .45 nestled there. He decided to take a page from his father's book. Seating himself, he gazed at the woman, steepling his fingers in front of his face.

"So, what's your sob story?" He barked, suddenly. To her credit, the woman didn't even flinch. In fact, she did not look the slightest bit concerned.

"Sob story?" She cocked her head slightly, giving him a look that spoke volumes of her self-confidence. She shook her head. "No story. None, that would interest you, I am sure. I must admit, however, that you surprise me."

"Surprise? How so?"

"Well, for one, punks like you aren't usually so clean nor so well organized." There was no scorn in her voice, yet Buddy knew that she had pegged the Rebels as nothing more than a punk gang.

"Well," he consulted a pad that had been placed on the desk. According to what Captain Dianne's preliminary interrogation had discovered, the woman's name was Sherri Penison and claimed to be an ex-policewoman from Kansas City. "Tell me what a Kansas City cop is doing in Oklahoma."

"Obviously you haven't been to what is left of Kansas City, lately." The reply was dryly given. She paused and sighed. She indicated a chair and gave Buddy an inquisitive look. At his nod, she placed the fold-up chair in front of the desk and took a seat. "Look, I may be making a mistake here, but I have a feeling we are on the same side. Frankly, you don't strike me as a punk."

"Gee thanks." Buddy drawled. "As far as us being on the same side, which side might that be?"

"The side that wants to rid this land of punks and crud and crap like the scum in that town."

"The metas?"

"Them too." Sherri nodded. "Though not all metas are bad…"

"And just how do you figure that, Ms. Penison?" Buddy cut in, jumping all over her statement. "From all the we have heard, there are no such things as good metas."

"At one time, that was true." Sherri hedged. "Things have changed."

"You work for Supergirl!" It was a statement, not a question.

"You know…."Sherri trailed off, realizing she had been suckered.

"No." Buddy shook his head. "I suspected."

"Well, no. I don't work for K…Supergirl. Not directly, anyway." Sherri seemed slightly unsettled for the first time. "She doesn't even know where I am or what I am doing."

"And what exactly is it your are doing?"

"Gathering information." She paused. "Look, I don't know where you came from, but I know enough to realize that your people are not from this world. If you had been, I would have learned of you long ago."

"Actually, we've been here for about a year and a half, but your are essentially correct. Go on."

"I'm going to tell you a story and it is going to take a while." Sherri said, after a moments thought.

"We have time." Buddy nodded.

"So Supergirl and the others neutralized this artifact." Buddy mused when Sherri finished her story. It made sense. And, if what Sherri said was correct, it also meant that they were indeed stranded in this reality forever. "And now the metas are after her."

"Yes. And now they are organized. At least to some degree." Sherri agreed.

"This Lex Luthor you mentioned." Buddy nodded. "What, exactly does he get out of it?"

"Power." She paused and reached a hand into the breast pocket of her fatigues. She pulled out a small, paper wrapped object and tossed it. On the desk before Buddy. Looking her in the eyes, Buddy slowly unwrapped the package and then took a sharp breath…the paper had come away to reveal the much tarnish emblem of a bygone era.

"Lex Luthor is wanting nothing less than the restoration of the Third Reich!" Sherri announced, reaching over to tap a fingernail on the swastika Buddy held in his hands!

In the end, it was decided that 1st Brigade would bypass the punk infested town.

"Your company is assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade." Buddy told the Bravo Company commander. 'You'll stay behind and stay low while we're pulling out. With any luck, the punks in the town will assume that you are pulling out with us. They should relax their guard and allow you to take them out with a minimal of civilian casualties. I'll leave Capt. Dianne and the Rat pack here to help out."

"I appreciate it, sir." The Company Commander nodded. He didn't salute. No Rebels saluted another in the field. It was one sure way of pointing out officers to any enemy eyes. "Don't worry, we'll take care of it, general."

Buddy glowered at the smiling commander and cut his eyes to his personal team, wondering who had spilled the beans about his 'promotion'.

"Okay, Betsy." He sighed. "Get everyone mounted and let's get moving. We've got a Supergirl to meet."

It was clear after the first few hours on the road that they were not going to be able to catch up with the metas so long as they were restricted to the speed of the tracked vehicles and towed artillery.

"Leave them." Buddy ordered. "Let them come on at their own speed. Leave enough infantry to protect them. The rest are to move at maximum speed allowable by the roads."

So it was that the light infantry and wheeled battle vehicles moved out, pushing their vehicles to the max.

For two days the Rebels bird-dogged the metas, stopping when they stopped, moving when they moved.

"We think we got a good idea where they're going." A tired looking Betsy came to Buddy with the information. She stepped up on the front grill of the hummer and spread a map out over the hood. She looked it over for a moment and then stuck her finger down on a spot to the north west of Boulder. "They're heading up through here. For some reason, they seem to be heading right up into the mountains."

"They obviously believe Supergirl is up there somewhere." Sherri offered.

"And why should they think that?" Buddy asked. Sherri merely shrugged. "Okay, let's assume they're right. Supergirl is up there. So what do we do about it? We are not going to catch them before they reach her. Not at the rate we're going."

"Actually, we can not only catch them, we can flank them and get ahead of them." Betsy offered. "They are taking this route." She traced her finger along a path on the map. "However, if we take this route," now her finger followed another path, "then we can get ahead of them and be waiting for them when they reach this point." She poked her finger down on a spot. Buddy thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Let's do it. Get a team of scouts out and have them scope the area." He said. "We can't wait for their report, however. We'll have to already be moving." He frowned. "This is going to be a hairy one. We've only got light arms and mortars." He shook his head. "Can't be helped. Let's get em moving."

"Scooter, if you hit one more pot hole I'm going to shove this M-16 right up your…"

"Rita, leave Scooter alone." Betsy complained. "He has to use both those brain cells of his to drive."

"Boss, tell them to leave me alone." Scooter whined in a fake nasal tone as he swerved to miss a large pot hole…only to hit a smaller one.

"We've been lucky so far." Buddy was telling Sherri, ignoring the playful banter of his team. "No one has taken a shot at us during the past few days."

"The metas." Sherri said, confirming Buddy's thoughts. " Every one has gone into hiding until they are well past. The only people that are even likely to be around are friends of the metas. Punks, outlaws, and that crap."

"Exactly." Buddy mused. "So why haven't we had any encounters?" He paused and then turned to Betsy. "Get on the horn to the scouts. Have them slow down and be on the look out for signs of an ambush. After you finish that, have the column halt. I have a bad feeling we just walked into a trap."

The words had barely left his mouth before a round slammed into the windshield, spidering the shatterproof glass.

"Speak of the devil." Scooter muttered, cutting the steering wheel hard to the right. In an instant the vehicle had stopped and everyone was piling out as weapon fire from both sides of the road ripped into the column.

"Betsy, get mortar teams set up." Buddy ordered as he hit the ground. He jacked a round into the chamber of the old .45 Thompson and searched the tree line. "Return fire!" He yelled out, putting action to his words. His weapon chucked out it .45 song of death, stitching one punk from left hip to right shoulder and throwing him backwards several feet. In an instant Buddy was on his feet, rushing the tree line, his Thompson belching lead death as he advanced.

"Damnit General, would you please get your ass down and back?" A frustrated Lieutenant called as Buddy's personal guard moved into to surround him. His personal team, with Sherri in tow, moved in beside him. He raised his eyes at the weapon Sherri carried.

"What the hell is that?" He demanded. He looked over at Rita. The bodyguard shrugged.

"It's the weapon she was carrying when she was captured, Boss." She said. "We figured if she wasn't a prisoner, then she could have it back." Her eyes widened as Sherri brought the weapon to her shoulder and fire off several three round burst…of pure energy! A punk caught in the path of the fire screamed as each energy round exploded on contact.

"Overkill on these." Sherri called out over the roar of gunfire. "But just barely enough to handle most metas. One of the resistance forces in Missouri developed them. When we get out of here, I'll make sure you get a coups so your people back at your base Camp can replicate them."

"Gee thanks." Buddy growled. His mind was racing. If that was the type of weapon required to take out the meats they were chasing, then he had made a huge tactical blunder by leaving behind the tanks and artillery. "Let's wrap this up. We got some miles to cover!" He fired off a few more rounds and then turned to Betsy. "And make sure we get one prisoner."

"How does he plan to handle prisoners?" Sherri asked Rita.

"What prisoners? Didn't you hear what he said?" Rita sighted in and put three rounds of .226 death through a punk's heart.

"He said to get prisoners." Sherri said, confused.

"No. He said A prisoner. Singular. One and only one!"

One hour later the rebels were moving once again. Behind them they left the dead punks and crud where they had fallen. When asked by Sherri if the Rebels were going to bury them, Buddy had given her a hard stare.

"Animals got to eat too." Was his only reply.

One prisoner had been taken. Enough to confirm that the punks were in league with the metas and were, like the metas, in the employ of one Lex Luthor. He had no knowledge of anything dealing with Nazism. He was exactly what he appeared to be...a dirty punk.

'Hey man, I gots rights ya know!" The punk had hollered at Buddy when he was brought in. His face turned pure white when Buddy jacked back the hammer on his .45 and stuck the muzzle under the punk's chin.

"You got nothing, punk." Buddy told him in an even voice. "What you will get is a bullet if you raise your voice to me again or if I think your are even thinking about lying to me. Do you understand me?" The punk had nodded and then began answering any question Buddy put to him. After a few moments, the punk relaxed and even began scratching at the back of his neck. After about the fourth time the punk had reached back to scratch his neck, Buddy had smiled.

"You'll never make it." Buddy told him.

"Make what?" The punk was all apparent wide-eyed innocent as he reached a bit farther back. He brought his hand forward and was slammed backward, bloods spitting from a small hole in his chest and splashing from a larger, messy exit hole in his back.

"What the hell?" Sherri looked in shock at the smoking .45 in Buddy's hands.

"Look in his hand." Buddy ordered, waving the weapon to the rapidly cooling corpse. Rita bent over and pried the punk's fingers open, revealing a small .22 Derringer.

"Damn." The bodyguard scowled, looking down at the miniature firearm. "I thought he was going for a knife!"

"How did you know?" Sherri demanded. Buddy only shrugged and holstered the .45. He called for a couple of soldiers to removed the punk. "Toss him in the woods for the animals."

"If they'll touch him." One soldier grumbled. "He stinks so bad a skunk would smell good. Don't these punks ever bathe?"

"Not if they can help it." Rita told him. "Not if they can help it."

"Okay. What have we got?" Buddy brought everybody's attention back to the problem at hand. "This little ambush has cost us time. Can we still reach our designated target before the metas get there?"

"Only if we are very lucky." Betsy answered. "Even then, we will have to move as quickly as possible and that means going all out. Some of the slower vehicles will be left behind."

"Slower vehicles being the Bradleys and troop trucks." Buddy frowned and shook his head. "I guess there is no help for it. We have to get there. Okay, Betsy, get everyone mounted again and let's get moving."

The rebels moved out, the slower vehicles pulling off to the side so that the faster ones could pass them by and race towards the target area.

Three hours later, Buddy's Hummer pulled up, Scooter skillfully guiding the vehicle into a stand of trees for camouflage.

"We're here, but I'll be damned if I know what we're going to do." Buddy muttered, looking over the scant few vehicles that had been able to make the mad dash. "We have few than three hundred personnel and virtually no heavy weapons." Though he did not sow it, Buddy was extremely worried. If it came down to it, he would call off the attack. There was just no way that he would order his people into a battle they were bound to loose.

"Sir!" Betsy held out the radio mic to him. "Scouts report the metas in site. Long eyes also reports a small battle in progress up on that peak." She pointed. "and base camp is on the horn….they say they have a surprise for you."

"This is Buddy, go ahead base." Buddy acknowledged, thumbing the mic. As usual, Betsy winced, reminding herself for the thousandth time to have a talk with the boss concerning radio protocol.

"Eagle, this is Eagle's Nest." Base camp came back properly. This time it was Buddy that winced. Eagle had been his father's code name. "We got a present for you coming up from the south. Be advised that they will be running low on fuel and will need a landing area soon."

"What the hell are you sending me, Nest?" Buddy was perplexed.

"Five puffs. Enjoy. Nest out."

"Puffs! I'll be damned!" Buddy tossed the mic back to Betsy and then turned to see a highly confused Sherri Penison. "Stick around, Ms. Penison. You are about to get a first hand look at how the Rebels wage war."

It was not long before they could hear the steady thrum of approaching prop driven aircraft.

"I got the Squadron commander on the horn Boss." Betsy called out. "He wants to know what you want them to do…He says they have the Metas in site."

"Tell them to take the metas out." Buddy ordered, a hard gleam in his eyes. "Tell them to lighten their load!"

"Will do."

On the peak above, the heroes had rounded up the survivors of the first meta attack. Surprisingly, there had only been three fatalities. Of course, no one knew what had become of the meta that had snatched Karen during the battle.

Two of the fatalities could plainly be attributed to the sharp fangs of Krypto. Kara had studied the animal that, though it bore the same name and powers as the Krypto she had known during her life, bore little resemblance to that Kryptonian animal. This Krypto resembled Terran Wolves more than it did any animal evolved on the planet Krypton. Zor El had explained that this was due to the forced devolution caused by the Lantern Shard Jenny had neutralized.

"We can't know what changes the Shard caused in him." Zor had said. "True, he devolved into his species predecessor, but this was done on Earth, not Krypton. While we worked to reverse the process, we noted some subtle differences."

It was, it seemed, not only his outward appearance that had been changed. While there was no doubt he was loyal to Ma Kent and, to some degree, the twins, he was also far more ferocious. His attacks now were not to subdue. He was an alpha male and his attacks, to protect those under his care, were meant to eliminate any threat. When Krypto attacked, his objective was to destroy the enemy, to kill.

The other fatality was, oddly enough, pure accident. The meta, knocked unconscious during the battle, had fallen and, as chance would have it, had tumbled down the peak, breaking his neck.

"So what do we do with them?" Rogue had asked, looking down at the stunned and sullen prisoners. She was, for the time being, clothed in a suit fashioned of Lantern energy by Jenny. It was the same energy that now bound and enclosed the beaten metas.

"I have a couple of suggestions." Mon drawled, his eyes hard. Several of the metas had grown pale at that, anticipating the worst.

"Rogue, do you think you could get the girls back the otherside and back to school?" Kara had watched the girls, seeing how they dealt with the violence and the ensuing deaths. Though pale, they both seemed to be standing up to it well."

"No problem." Rogue answered slowly. As if reluctant "Why? What are you three going to do?"

"I think we need to make a trip to Metropolis." Kara was looking towards the east. They had questioned a few of the metas as they rounded them up. Not in-depth, but enough to know that the brains behind the metas was none other than Lex Luthor.

Rogue sighed. She knew that Kara's hatred of Lex knew no bounds. For that matter, she hated Lex herself, and for the same reason, but not like Kara. Kara had grown up in a world in which Lex and her cousin had been mortal enemies. She had run up against him many times, herself. But now tit was more personal. Lex had once before tried to kill the twins and it had only been the intervention of Lara Night that had kept Kara from killing him then. Now this. Rogue shook her head. Even Lara would not be able to stop Kara this time. She didn't ask if Kara thought she, Mon, and Jenny could handle the metas approaching from below. If the ones they had just trounced were any indication, it would be a breeze

"Right. Okay, I'll get the twins back to school. Besides, I need some more clothes. I don't trust this energy of Jenny's and I would hate for her to hurt Mon if his eyes get big again." Jenny laughed and Mon blushed, as Rouge got ready to take off. "I'll try to get back before you get to Metropolis, but if I don't you watch your ass. And you watch out for that Lara."

"The twins like her." Kara responded in a distant manner. "Personally, I don't like her. She's got a goddess complex." She had smiled slightly. "But then, I don't recall it ever saying in the heroes handbook that one had to like all one's allies."

"Mom?" Kara turned to see the twins regarding her with eyes that seemed to alternate between pleading and rebellion. "We would rather stay. We can help."

"Yes, I know." Kara took both their hands in hers. "And it's not you I am worried about, it's me."

"You?" Though both girls looked confused, it was Carrie that had spoken.

"Me." Kara nodded. "I know myself well enough to realize that if I took you with me into Metropolis, I would be more concerned with your safety than I would be on getting the job done. And when dealing with Lex, I need to have all my attention focused on him and what he has waiting to throw at me." She shook her head. "Don't worry about it for now. Right now I need to know that you are back at school and getting the education and the training you need." She smiled. "Believe me, the day is coming when you will be here in Otherverse full time. When that time comes, you'll probably wish you were still back at school."

So, though still sullen the girl followed Rogue, first to the Fortress where the equipment needed to transfer between Otherverse and the Fantastic Four HQ resided, and then from the FFHQ back to Xavier's School.

"Okay. My turn to ask." Jenny spoke up after Rogue and the twins had disappeared from site. "What do we do with these scum?"

"Find a big lake and dump them in?" Mon suggested. "They need it. Sheesh, I could smell them a mile away."

One of the bundled punks growled and opened his mouth to make a comment, his confidence raised with the departure of the three maids of might. The confidence faded as Krypto growled low, his lips pulled back to reveal red stained fangs.

"They could use a bath, that's for sure." Jenny agreed. She was standing over the trussed up metas, hands on her hips, her nose scrunched up as if smelling something disagreeable.

"Are those energy bonds of your going to hold while we take care of that other group of metas?" Kara demanded.

"They'll hold." Jenny attested. "Now how, exactly are we going to deal with these other metas? We're going to be a bit short handed."

"We may not have to worry about it." Mon announced. He had taken a moment to use his telescopic vision to check on the approaching metas. "There's another group down there and I think they are about to attack the metas."

The Puffs were not, by any stretch of the imagination, pretty aircraft. But then, they were not meant to be. The Puffs, relics from the Vietnam War, didn't have the sleek design of the newer aircraft. They were designed to be exactly what they were…flying instruments of massive destruction. Their squat stubby appearance had literally sent terror through the hearts and souls of the enemy in that almost forgotten war. The slow. Lumbering plans, skimming along over the treetops could unleash enough firepower to completely destroy an area the size of three football fields. Circling slowly, their cannons and guns and rockets would turn such an area into an inferno of instant death.

As the five puffs approached, the metas paused, bewildered. For the most part, most were to young to remember these death dealing monsters of the air. Those with a bit more knowledge or old enough to have seen the clips of the Puffs in action had, for so long had no serious opposition that the notion that death had come calling did not even cross their minds.

The puffs took up position with a precision that seemed impossible for such ungainly craft, and then, as if on signal, all five began to tremble and shake as they began singing their songs of death. Door gunners gritted their teeth as their cannons rattled off thousands of rounds per second. Explosions began to blow when their assistants, freed for a moment, began pumping round after round of 40mm grenades into the target zone.

On the ground, panic reigned. Within seconds a full half of the metas were blown and blasted, riddled by the cannons and guns and shrapnel that turned their world into a vision of hell.

Form her position next to Buddy, Sherri slowly lowered the binoculars Buddy had given her, no longer able to watch the carnage. She cast a glance at Buddy. The commander of the Rebels did not look gleeful, or even happy about what was happening, but he did look satisfied.

"It doesn't bother you." It wasn't a question. "All the death and killing does not bother you."

"That's where you are wrong, Mr. Penison." Buddy responded. "The death of those innocents at the hands of these crud does bother me. It bothers me because we were not here to rid this world of scum like this before now. Now if you are saying that the death of that scum does not bother me, then you are quite correct. It does not bother me in the slightest." He fixed Sherri with a hard look. "The rebels are good at their jobs, Ms. Penison, and that job just happens to be war. We are not mercenaries, we are builders. It is our desire to build a nation free of scum and punks and others that feel it is their right to prey upon the innocent. If you wish, you could consider us the ultimate in hard assed cops."

He paused to look back at the circling Puffs.

"In the old world, the rebels swept across the United States at least four times and around the world twice, just to rid the world of scum." He shook his head. "Finally my father said to hell with it and we consolidated our power in the Southern States and formed the Southern United States of America." He smiled and shook his head as Sherri started to speak. "No, Mr. Penison. The SUSA was in no way connected to the Old Confederate States of America. The term Rebel was given to those groups that, before the Great War, were ready to revolt against the increasingly corrupt liberal government. It had nothing to do with slavery except insomuch as it inferred that we were Rebelling against the eventual enslavement of the American people by a government that no longer even pretended to care for the rights of the people."

Sherri was sure Buddy would have continued had his attention not been jerked back to the Puffs. Somewhere within the killing field in which the metas were trapped, someone had finally decided on a plan of action. A bolt of plasma sprang from the ground, flashing towards one of the circling Puffs. Who ever had fired the bolt had acted with care, leading the target so that the plasma bolt would strike the Puff amidships.

Buddy had caught his breath and then released it with amazement when the bolt seemingly splashed harmlessly one some object between the ground and the Puff. Whipping up his binocs, he trained them on the spot and pointed.

"Ms Penison," His normally calm voice was now hardly more than a whisper. "Who in the hell is THAT?"

Sherri raised her own binoculars and found the area in the sky Buddy was indicating. Even as she focused, the plasma bolt was dissipating and she could see a small figure, dressed in red and gold, floating in mid air. Without waiting for an answer, Buddy had called Betsy to him.

"Betsy, get on the horn to those pilots." He snapped. "Tell them we may have friendlies in the sky. Until further notice or until attacked, no action is to be taken against any flying meta."

"Got it, Boss." Betsy responded, already cranking up the radio.

"Ms. Penison?"

"I'm not sure." Sherri shook her head. "That is not Ka….Supergirl, at least not she's changed her costume. Or it could be one of her daughters."

"Supergirl has daughters?" Buddy lifted the binocs again and watched as a second, and then a third figure appeared.

"Boss, the pilots are reporting a light green glow around all the planes." Betsy called out. "It's not causing any harm and is still allowing them to fire on the scum." She paused. "That's confirmed sir. It is a shield of some sort. Some small arms fire was directed at the Puffs from the ground and the glow deflected the rounds."

"That would be She-Hulk." Sherri informed Buddy. "She's a Green Lantern and that energy is a manifestation of her energy."

"That would be the big green female." Buddy stated. "And that one?" He pointed. "The male with the red suit and cheesy blue cape?"

"That would be Mon El." Sherri told him. She hesitated and then went on. "He is every bit as powerful as Supergirl." She looked around in the sky. "I don't see Rogue or the twins, so I am supposing that the one in red and gold up there is Supergirl."

The sudden silence was deafening and halted all further discussion.

"The Puffs all report out of ammo, Boss." Betsy called out. "They also report low on fuel. They are going to have to set down soon."

"Have the scouts try to find a landing zone." Buddy said. "Tell the pilots to set down if they find a spot, otherwise wait for the scouts." He paused. "Tell them to wait to the last moment then jump. I don't want them going down with the planes." He turned his attention back to the now quiet killing zone. "Okay, people. Time to earn our pay. Move out and mop up." And, suiting action to words, he was off and running, thumbing the safety off his Thompson.

There was no real need to hurry, Buddy realized as he broke into the blood splattered clearing that had been the focus of the Puffs' fury. Those metas left alive were neatly trussed in green energy bands in the center of the clearing. Standing before them, and between them and the advancing Rebels, were the three metas that he had observed in the air.

The stood as if in loose formation, the green giantess and the dark haired male standing slightly behind and to either side of the Red and gold clad blonde. A fourth figure, seemingly a white wolf, stood proudly at her side.

Buddy ordered the rebels to hold their fire and their ground and, accompanied only by his personal team and Sherri, he stepped forward.

"Supergirl, I presume?" He asked in his most polite tone.

"Actually it is Starfire now." The blonde replied. "One of my daughters has taken the name of Supergirl." She paused and looked just to Buddy's left. "It's good to see you again, Sherri. We wondered where you had taken off to."

"I was afraid that you all would leave once you took care of the Artifact." Sherri replied softly. "But I knew it would be over here." She indicated Buddy and the Rebels. "This is the only force I know of that could have a hope in hell of helping us."

"We aren't gone, Sherri. And we aren't going anywhere." Kara turned her attention back to Buddy and waited. For a moment, no one moved and then Buddy stepped forward and, ignoring the soft growl from the white wolf-like animal, held out an empty hand.

"Buddy Raines and Raines' Rebels, ma'am." He told her. "At your service."

"He's not here!" Kara scowled and shoved a desk out of her way, inadvertently sending it crashing through one of the walls of the building.

She was stalking through the offices of Lex Luthor's Lexcorps offices in downtown Metropolis. Behind her, Buddy, his personal team, Sherri, Mon and Jenny trailed. Buddy and his team were a bit shaky, having been flown to metropolis in one of Jenny's green bubbles.

Sherri had filled Kara in on all she knew of Lex and, after Mon, Jenny and Kara had cleared a landing strip for the still circling Puffs, they had headed to Metropolis.

They had met no resistance from Lex Corps employees. Indeed, to all appearances, the building had been abandoned for at least a week.

"Where the hell is he?" Kara demanded.

"I think I know." Mon stooped and snatched up a scrap of paper. At first it appeared to be nothing more than a page of doodling. Closer examination, however, allowed the heroes to recognize what they were seeing. "Remember that Lex as attuned to the Shard." He went on. "He knew exactly what it was and where it came from." He poked a finger at the doodles. "These three circles represent different probabilities. The first circle probably represents this probability. The second one, with the Fantastic Four emblem, is most likely the one you come from, Jenny. And this one…" his finger rested on a small S emblem that was like, but slightly different, the emblem Kara had worn. "I would venture to guess that this is Linda's probability." I would bet that this is where he's gone."

"Oh god." Jenny breathed. "Can Linda handle him?"

"Probably. None of us really know the extent of her powers." Kara mused. "But I don't think that's all of it." She shook her head and walked to a window. "He isn't gone for good. He's gone to Linda's world for some specific reason, and when he discovers what he's looking for, then may Rao help us." She turned back to the others. "I think we're going to need it!"

End of "_The Battle Begins – Chapter One_"

This story continues in Jason Froikins Story "Raiders of the Lost".

Please read that and The Twins Chapter Two before going on to

The Battle Begins – Chapter 2

- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2000 by Dylan Clearbrook, and may not be

- reprinted without permission.

- Karen and Carrie are original creations of Dylan Clearbrook

- Supergirl and some other characters are property of D.C. Comics

- Certain characters are property of Marvel Comics


	4. Chapter 2

_**The Battle Begins**_

Chapter 2

The dark forest passed slowly beneath her as she soared through the sky. She felt alive again, full of purpose, ready to embrace whatever the future may bring!

It wasn't quite coincidence that brought her back to this area. Two days earlier, a fire had raged through a wooded area to the north of this forest and it was the master of the forest she now flew over that had showed up to battle the fire creature that had been unleashed in those other woods.

Of course, when she and the others had shown up, they had not known who was who and misunderstandings had developed. She laughed at herself now as she considered the absurdity of that understatement In any case; she was not too worried about things going wrong in the forest that grew beneath her. If there had been problems, she felt sure that Ian, the Wizard of the Woods as the folk living in the area had taken to calling the man, would have called for help if he needed it. Frankly, she didn't expect that there was much Ian could not handle if he had to.

She still had not settled her feelings for the man. That she was a close physical image of some one he cared deeply about was chance. There was no chance that she would be able to be that person. And right now, she was happy in her relationship with Rogue. No, the feelings she was dealing with were feelings of trust. She felt that she could trust him implicitly, yet something within rebelled at the thought of being so trusting.

Despite all that he had shown her, the fact remained that she really knew far less about this Ian than she did about Lara Night. And yet she still had trouble trusting Lara. It was not that Lara had ever given her reason and she could not, if pressed, point to any single thing that caused the sense of distrust.

She halted her flight, hovering above the great canopy of trees below, as her own self-honesty forced her to consider. What had come to mind did not speak well of her, but it was, she supposed, normal. Jealousy! Was it possible she was jealous of Lara's relationship with the Twins? Or was it possible she was jealous of Lara's seeming innocence…an innocence she herself would never know again?

She shook her head and allowed her mind to move to other things as she continued her patrol. She thought now of another of her new allies, Buddy Raines, leader of the Rebels.

After the confrontation with the zombies Lex Luthor had sent against them, almost anti-climatic in that they were so easily defeated (by Lara – Kara grimaced as that nagging self-honesty once again forced her to see the truth), Buddy had ordered up his Second Brigade to occupy the city of Metropolis.

She smiled. Now that had been an undertaking that had caused and was still causing Buddy headaches. The people of Metropolis, far from seeing Buddy and his Rebels as liberators, saw them only as oppressors – a role the Rebels found uncomfortable.

"You have to understand." Kara had told him. "These people see Lex as their savior. Take a look around. They have electricity, running water, gas, and stability. Lex made sure they had all that."

"And he gave them bread and circuses."" Buddy had growled. "But what about Freedom? What about the ability to protect yourself? None of those people own guns. It isn't allowed."

"You, of all people, should understand them." Kara countered. "From what you've told me, your world had similar people."

"People willing to give up freedom for safety. People who just waited around for Big Brother to come back in and make everything better again." Buddy spat. "No, Kara, I said we had people like that. I never claimed to understand them nor will I ever understand that liberal mindset."

And now Buddy had finally decided to give it up. He would not force people to be free. He couldn't. If they were not willing to fight for their freedom, he'd be damned if he asked any Rebel to fight for them. So, far to the north of her position now, the 2nd Brigade of the Rebel Army was already pulling out of Metropolis. And with them they were taking those few persons that had no desire to remain under Lex's Rule. Kara had been surprised to learn that one of the newest Rebel recruits was no other than this world's Jimmy Olsen. Another name from the past attached to a person that had never met her or been close friends with her cousin.

And now Kara's thoughts traveled back to the Fortress and the latest developments there.

The Twins had moved in with little fuss, overjoyed to be allowed to stay. She had to admit; having them there was…different. Neither she nor Rogue were used to having teens around all the time. Yet, at the same time, she could think of nothing else she would want. Though she had not shown it at the time, she had taken the time to sort out her feelings about the twins almost from the beginning. She smiled. Right after Linda had basically told her to grow up. She had not had children of her own, though this body she wore had given birth to a girl, probably an exact duplicate of the twins. She still had not given up on the possibility that she might some day find that girl.

"Oh Rao…. Triplets?" She laughed at the image that formed in her mind. An image of her and Rogue tearing their hair out as three teen girls ran rampant through the fortress.

And she wouldn't have it any other way. She had learned that she loved those girls every bit as much as if they had been her own children. And she would never be able to fully describe the exultation she felt the first time one of them had called her…Mom. Of course that was changing now as they became more comfortable to their new lives. Now, more often than not, they were referring to her as Mama Kara and Rouge became Mama Marie. Though she had known Rogue's given name, she had been surprised that she had let the twins know it. Once a teen knows something, it is not long before the world knows.

She had asked Rogue about it one night as they lay in bed. Rogue on her back, Kara snuggled next to her, one arm around her body, her head resting on her shoulder.

"I don't know." Rouge had shrugged, running a hand through Kara's hair. "I stopped being Marie when I discovered I was a mutant. Marie was a young, normal girl. A girl with no special abilities, with no curse that kept her from feeling the touch of some one else's skin on her own. Marie would have grown into a woman some one could love, not a freak that could steal your energy and your thoughts."

"And now?"

"And now I've discovered that I am loved, and that I can touch and be touched. And I've discovered that I am more in love than I have ever been before." She pushed Kara up so that she could look in her face. "Rogue is the super hero. The Kryptonian that flies through the air, helping people, fighting the bad guys. That is how the outside world will see me. But here, in our Fortress, with you, the girls, and our friends, I am just plain Marie."

Of course the girls had reacted like typical teens when she and Rogue had informed them that, despite all their apparent intelligence, they would continue their studies, working via commlink with the best scientists and teachers in Kandor. So far, neither had expressed a desire to range far from the Fortress though she knew that would not last long. Sooner or later the urge to explore this strange, wondrous world would get the better of them.

Ever since their fight in Linda's world, the two had been working on their empathic link, an ability they had finally revealed to her and Rogue. They had got a lesson on its ability to escalate their emotions completely out of proportion and now they were learning how to control it, how to keep their feelings to themselves as well as block the feelings of the other. It was a useful ability, but there would be times feeling what the other felt would be a curse, not a blessing.

Thinking of the twins, Kara smiled. Not only had they gained the twins, but they had also gained another, possibly temporary member to the team. Walking through the Fortress two days after moving all the girls' belongings out of Xavier's School, Kara had noticed a strange, foul odor drifting from one of the few guest quarters they had constructed. Not knowing what they would find, though Rogue had professed to having smelled something similar in the past, they had burst into the guest room from which the odor originated.

"Don't you two know how to knock?" Kicked back in a chair, his feet propped on the room's desk, Wolverine waved his burning stogie at them. "You should learn some manners!"

"Logan!" Rogue had squealed. Then, to Logan's discomfort, she had rushed to him and gathered him into a tight hug.

"Careful there. You damned near shattered my ribs!" He groused, clearly embarrassed by such an open show of affection. Though the warning was well given. Despite the fact that his bones were lined with admantium, a virtual indestructible metal, they would still not hold up under the strength of any of these damned Kryptonians.

"Logan, what are you doing here?" Kara had asked, frowning at the lit cigar and its offensive odor. If Logan noticed her look, he gave no indication of it.

"Moving in." He told her. He didn't ask. He told. "I thought I would wonder around and take a gander at this world of yours. Besides, I made a promise to those girls of yours that I would help train them. I keep my word!"

"But what about the X-men?" Rogue was clearly worried. Had her leaving the X-Men signaled its eventual disbanding?

"They'll do fine with out me for awhile." Logan waved her concern aside. "I'm considered to be on extended leave for a time." He let his feet drop to the floor and stood. "Now why don't you two broads show me around this place?"

The twins had been ecstatic to see Logan and soon they were back on the training schedule.

Kara's thoughts continued to range as she flew on, touching briefly on Lar (after his incident in the future, in which he had been merged with an older version of himself, he had given up on the childish idea of changing his name to Mon El) and Jenny Gand (she still could not believe that the two had already gotten married). The newlyweds were keeping an eye (she hoped) on a massive army building up in Washington State. Though they had no proof, it was generally believed that Lex was behind the build up. She knew that Sherri Penison had left Buddy's 1st Brigade and headed north with a team of scouts on a fact finding mission.

Rogue, for her part, was doing PR work, moving around the torn nation, making herself known and letting people know that there was help available, help in the form of Kara and her people and the Rebels. At the moment she wasn't all that far away, visiting the small community that had, reluctantly at first, accepted the young Meta Frost-Fire as their protector.

And now she finally thought of herself. Ever since her meeting with Wonder Woman in Linda's Probability (see The Twins, Chapter 2), she had made a lot of progress on the road to healing. She was becoming more comfortable with who she was and what she had become. No longer did she try to be the young, naïve girl she had once been. Her experiences had changed her and she was finally coming to terms with those changes.

No longer did the tears come so quickly when she thought of the past. Now they were taking their place among her memories. Memories to cherish, but not to control her future.

She smiled as she glanced at her blue-black leather clad arms. Gone was the Yellow and red costume she had tried in her attempt to run away from the big Red S. And while she would still occasionally wear her old costume, she now primarily wore the costume that Linda had suggested so long ago. The leather jacket, over a blue half shirt / tube top which sported the traditional Super symbol; a tight fitting pair of matching leather pants, laced up the sides from the knees to the waist; and a pair of knee high, form fitting boots. Rogue would occasionally wear a similar costume, though where Kara wore blue, red and yellow, Rogue maintained her affinity for green and yellow. Kara still smile when she thought of the first time she had seen the Super symbol depicted in green and yellow on Rogue's regular jumpsuit. It had looked strange, but it had fit.

As yet, she had not thought of a new name, something that fit her more appropriately than Supergirl. For the time being, she went by the name of Starfire, in places where an alias was advisable. For the rest, she simply used Kara.

As she cleared the forest, flying out over open land, her gaze was drawn to a white splotch on a green covered hill. She activated her telescopic vision and raised her eyebrows. For a brief moment, she considered contacting Ian to let him know that his forest was being invaded….by a Krypto. She decided against it. It was a trivial matter and she was pretty sure that not much went on in those woods that he did not know about. Besides, she knew Krypto.

She had known since discovering his existence in this world that this Krypto was nothing like the Krypto she had known in the past. That Krypto could easily have passed for an earth canine, though no one would have been able to say exactly what breed of canine.

This Krypto, on the other hand, would never be able to pass for an earth animal. Devolved into the shape of his breed's ancestors, Krypto had a very distinct…alien feel about him. In appearance, he looked like a workable cross between the ancient Earth Dire Wolves and the pre-historic Saber-toothed Cats. Add to that the tremendous strength of a Kryptonian animal and you had a very, very dangerous animal. Of all the Kryptonians on this world, and that was counting Lar as a Kryptonian though technically he was a Daxamite, Krypto was by for the most powerful, Just as an earthly equivalent, were it to exist, would be more powerful than an ordinary Terran.

No, this was not the same animal at all. There was still, despite all the efforts of the Kandorian scientist to reverse the evolutionary process, too much wild in him.

She sincerely hoped that he did not do too much damage to Ian's woods. The thought of the Amberite dealing with Krypto brought a smile to her lips….a smile that faded as a feeling of dread stole over her.

She paused, hovering in the air, facing towards the southeast, out over the Texas plain. Trouble was coming, she felt, and it was not coming from Washington. No, what ever was heading their way was coming from the Southeast. And it would be, she felt, the hardest trial she had faced in Otherverse yet.

With one last glance, she arched out and back over the forest, her blonde hair flowing in the wind, her blue-black leather glistening in the sunlight. Kara headed back to the Fortress!

For years it had remained hidden, glimpsed occasionally by accident or design, its lush, green covered hills and valleys dotted here and there with elaborate villas and city centers, all of Greek design.

In the very center of the island, easily as big as the Big Island of Hawaii, grand structures arose, temples to the many gods, the royal palace, the Coliseum, yet no structure was as grand as the temple of Athena, built in honor of the patron goddess of the Island's inhabitants.

It was perhaps glimpses of this grand island that had, in years past, started the legends of Atlantis, for in this world, there was no true Atlantis, no mer-folk or water breathing humans as there were in other worlds. Or, if they had, or did, exist none yet had produced concrete proof.

It was here, when the power of the Greece was waning and that of Rome was waxing that the goddess Athena had taken heed of the cries of her warrior women, creating for them a place of their own, a place apart from the world of male domination. An Island where they could live and control their own destinies. A place where the effects of aging were never felt!

For a brief moment that inner voice that tells a person that they are about to do something wrong nagged at the woman's conscience. Instantly she squelched that voice, drowning it in the depths of her rage and sorrow. Had the voice been the voice of the Gods she would have done no less…Of late, the Gods had failed her and her people, she would be damned if she bent her knee to any but one.

"So we are agreed?" The question, spoken with a harshness that seemed at odds with the gentle beauty of the speaker, was tossed out to the council of women gathered before her. They were all, like her, dressed in the finer robes that denoted their positions in the government that had stood unchallenged for countless years.

There were no vocal responses, but most nodded vigorously, or gave a single, curt nod, as if agree to something which they found necessary but particularly distasteful.

Some, however, gave no indication of their feelings on the matter while an even fewer number openly shook their heads in disagreement. It was to these that the woman now cast her attention, her eyes narrowing.

"What then?" She demanded. "Shall we take this last outrage quietly? Shall we let this latest blasphemy go unpunished?"

"With all do respect, my queen." One of the women answered. "I fail to see how this event is any worse than things that have gone before." She held up a hand to forestall interruption, a gesture meant, it was recognized, for the other members of the council rather than the queen. As it was, it was the Queen that cut in, over riding her argument.

"It is enough." She slammed her hand on the council table, jarring the jugs of water and wine and causing the contents of glasses to slosh over the sides. " They have brought us near to ruin."

"Which is why we cut ourselves off from them so long ago!" The dissenter shot back, undaunted by the queen's show of temper.

"A mistake, it seems." One of those councilors siding with the queen cut in. "had we not cut ourselves off, but rather conquered and subjugated them, we would not now be in this situation.

"You would rather that we, who desired only freedom insure that freedom by enslaving others?" The dissenter shot back. "How, then, would we be better than they?"

"They come close to destroying their world, and ours along with it, with their ignorance and their warlike ways!" Another sided with the queen. The speaker for the nonconformist faction looked at her with astonishment.

"You can condemn their warlike ways while sitting here calling for war upon them? When they have not attacked us?"

"What do you call this blasphemy, then?" The Queen demanded.

"Not an attack on us, surely." The dissenter responded. "An attack on the pride of the queen maybe, but not on us." The queen blanched.

"You dare!" She hissed.

"My queen." The dissenter sighed. "You have asked our opinion. I have given mine as well as those of others here. You have never in the past asked for a council of timid yes sayers. And so we speak our mind. Yet you know that, if our voice is not heard, or if the vote of the council does go against us, we shall follow the dictates of the majority and the commands of our queen." She took a deep breath, and then plunged on. "My queen, she knew the risks when she left our Isle. It was her choice. This, this blasphemy, and I agree that it was a blasphemy, was perpetrated upon her corpse. Her spirit, the flame of life that was your daughter, had long since joined the with the gods." She paused and, seeing no sign that her words were having any effect, sighed and shook her head. "Though I might disagree, I will obey the will of my queen. So shall we all."

The queen looked at the woman for a moment and, even though briefly, her countenance softened.

"You are correct that I want councilors who will speak their minds and not just tell me that which I wish to hear." She said. Then her tone hardened. "It is good to hear that you shall obey though you may not agree. That is all I ask." She straightened and looked around. "It is agreed, then."

"And what of the others?"

The queen turned to regard the small group of women, each in a different colored robe, robes signifying their status as priestesses and seers.

"What others?" She demanded. One of the priestesses waved a hand and a globe of light sprang into being above the council table. Within could be seen many shadowy figures, standing firmly behind six clear figures. Three blonde women, a read head with a swath of white streaking down the center, a giant, green skinned amazon of a woman, and a single male, his arm curved protectively around the waist of the green skinned one.

"These!" The priestess intoned. "For they have the power to stop you, my queen."

"They would not join with us?" One councilor demanded. "Surely the women would come to our side. And the male? What then could he do against them?"

"They will not join with you, my queen." The priestess replied, as if it had been the queen that had asked the question. "They will fight you."

"Beware these, my queen." One of the seeresses spoke up. "For one among them was known to your daughter, in another time and another place. She has lived and died and now lives again." The seeress paused, as if confused by what her own gifts were showing her. "And this one," the globe zoomed in to focus on the older blonde, "counted your daughter as among the wise and respected her greatly."

The queen studied the face closely, finally shaking her head.

"I do not question your words, Seeress, yet I can not see how this person could have known my daughter, unless you speak of a past life."

"Nay, my queen." The woman shook her head. "I shall study more on this, yet I see clearly that this one knew your daughter, thought the woman she knew was and was not your daughter. I shall study this."

"Also this, my Queen." One of the Priestess's spoke up again. "It is the law that has been law since first Athena gifted us with this island. It is Her will that Aging not touch us, her favorites, so long as we remain on the island. It was that gift your daughter forfeited when she left. It is that gift you will be asking all that follow you in this to renounce!"

There was silence at this piece of news and then the queen shook it off.

"It is of no importance." She declared. "We shall go to war against the world of men, and if these sisters do interfere, then they shall be considered the enemy. Until then, they shall be as sisters to us." She paused. "And of what use is being free of the ravages of time if we are not free from the destructive effects men have had and will have on our world? Begin the preparations. We shall go forth before the moon is next full."

"Your pardon, my queen." One of the councilors spoke up. "But who shall lead our armies? Have you given this any thought?"

"I have." The queen nodded curtly. "I shall lead our warriors into battle." She declared, causing a stir among the councilors. "I and my daughter's daughter." She turned. "Donna! Come here!"

The young dark haired girl stepped forward. Though dressed in robes, her arms were decorated with the symbols and armbands of a warrior and in her hand she carried a naked blade. Her eyes shown with barely veiled anger as she stepped up next to the queen and bent her knee, bowing her head.

"The queen commands, I obey." She intoned. Several of the councilors shifted uncomfortably.

Donna Troy was borne of the outside world. Her foster mother had brought her to the isle when the outside world began to go crazy. Though all there knew her and knew that, in many ways, her powers were greater than that of her foster mother, there were many that thought her changed since learning of her death. So filled with rage was she that many feared for her and those that would have to face her in combat.

"We shall lead." The queen repeated, looking again at the council, her hand resting lightly on the top of Donna's head. "War the outside world would have, then bloody red war we shall give them! Now go! Prepare! Gird yourselves for battle. Paradise Isle goes to war!"

The council cheered, save for those that disagreed and their eyes found each other's, unaware that the eyes of Donna Troy were upon them.

Smiling savagely, Queen Hippolyota, mother of the woman known to the outside world as Diana Prince, turned and left the council room. It was time to move!

She was late getting in. Her tour of the small communities had taken much longer than she had anticipated. For the most part, the receptions she had received had been cordial. Of course the people were nervous at first. To them, the term Meta was synonymous with evil. And thus far, they had only the example of the young man, Frost-Fire, as an example to the contrary.

Frost-Fire. Rogue smiled as she remembered the kid's nervousness. That he was in awe of her and the others was obvious. And somewhere, sometime during the past few days, the young man had gotten a glimpse of the Twins. He had accompanied her on her tour and it seemed every other sentence he uttered was some attempt to get information about them from her. While she fielded the questions, she had suppressed a smile at the images that formed in her mind…. foremost among them being Kara standing in a doorway wielding a shotgun.

Now, as she descended below the holographic screen that concealed the New Fortress, she paused to drink in the view. The Fortress bore no resemblance to the one She and Kara had carved out of the Arctic wastes back on her old Earth. Indeed, to call the structure below a Fortress was doing it a disservice. Seemingly a series of glass domes, it was stretched out in a semi-circle along the edges of a mountain lake. Its very design was such that it seemed almost a part of the surrounding terrain, despite its ultra modern look.

Unfortunately, it did not have the natural camouflage of the original Fortress. It had been a known issue but, before she or Kara could address it, Lara Night, using techniques developed by Reed Richards, had surprised them all by gifting them with a holographic screen that would effectively hide the Fortress.

She descended through the canopy of trees that, had they been much thicker, would have been able to provide a natural screen. As she touched down, she once again marveled at the design. It was not something she or Kara could have come with. It had been Lar's original idea, together with a tremendous helping hand in the form of Jennifer Walters. That girl's wide range of talents continuously surprised them all.

Any one coming upon the Fortress by accident would have no clue that it was the Otherverse Headquarters for Kara and her team. Instead, they would probably come to the natural conclusion that they had stumbled upon the elaborate dwelling of some Multi Millionaire with too much money and time on their hands.

The glass like domes, made of a material that Kara called Glasteel, were a wonder in themselves. From the outside, they seemed to be heavily tinted glass, behind which nothing could be seen. Yet from the inside, the view of the surrounding area was as clear as if there were no glass there at all.

"A little something I remembered from my days with the Legion of Superheroes." Kara had told her. She could not have given the composition of the material, but just the knowledge that it could be done was enough to give Reed Richards the clue he needed. He had developed the material and then handed it over to Tony Stark. Together, they had copyrighted the process, naming Kara as the primary owner. The results of this being that Kara realized half the profit from sales of the material while Stark Industries and Reed Richards realized a quarter each.

Kara, being Kara, had made sure a portion of the money was deposited in an account to help Charles Xavier fund his school. The remainder was funneled back into Stark Industries to help pay for any future expenditures she and the others might have. Why not? It was not like they had much use for money in Otherverse.

Rogue stepped into the entrance of the main dome with a sigh of relief. Despite the short time they had been there, this place was already home and she felt relief and contentment every time she steeped through that door.

Unlike the entrance to the old fortress, this did not boast the same Kryptonian theme. Like much of the more sensitive areas of the Fortress, like the control room or the training rooms, or the Med units, the Trophy Room was situated well below ground; accessible only via mine shafts sunk years ago by miners long dead and gone. Not a one of the mineshafts were equipped with any type of device to help in descending or ascending. It was presumed that only persons with the ability to fly would have access to the lower levels. They were simply long, empty fifteen foot by fifteen-foot shafts. They wouldn't stop the more ingenious intruders, but they would stop most.

The dome was darkened now. This late at night, with no emergencies, everyone would probably asleep. Though she was convinced that Lar and Jenny did very little sleeping in their quarters.

"Late night?" She fell into a defensive stance instantly at the sound of the rough voice, relaxing as Logan stepped out of the shadows. "Habit." He explained. "I heard someone at the door and…" He motioned towards the shadows hugging the walls.

"What on earth are you doing up?" Rogue demanded, not even trying to veil the exasperation in her voice. Wolverine shrugged.

"Strange place. Couldn't sleep. Decided to take a look around. See what there is to see."

"Not much." Rogue told him. "Blackhawk and Central City a little to the east, but you won't find much there. Place has been virtually deserted for years. Bums, Hobos, and squatters living there now." She shrugged. "We didn't choose this location for its nightlife." She studied Logan for a few minutes and then drew him into the living area, motioning for him to take a seat in one of the chairs.

"Logan, tell me the truth" She demanded. "You didn't come here just because of a promise you made to the girls, did you?"

"Actually, that was my main reason." Logan denied. "But that does not stop me from being curious about this place or about you."

"Me?"

"Rogue, are you sure this is what you want? Do you really believe this is where you belong?" He asked. He held up a hand to stop her from speaking before he finished. "I know what Prof X and Jean have said. But I wanted to hear it from you, with out having their psychobabble." Rogue hesitated for a moment.

"Yes, Yes I believe that this _is_ where I belong, Logan." She said in a quiet voice. "Where else would I belong? With the X-Men?" She shook her head. "Not any more. Look at me, Logan. I may not look any different than the Rogue you knew, but the changes are there. When I was just Mutant Rogue, I was a key part of the X-Men. We complimented each other. But now things are different."

"Too good for us now, is that what yer saying?" Logan grumped.

"No, Logan. That's not it. But you must admit, that now, I can accomplish things on my own that we, as the X-men, would not have dared try." She reached out and touched Logan's arm with her bare hand. "Do you remember the first time I touched you? Remember what happened? That was the old Rogue. That was the Rogue that could never hope to have a normal, touching relationship. I'm not that Rogue anymore. Hell Logan, I'm not even an Earth woman any more."

"Bullshit." Logan snorted.

"Logan. Listen to me. Do you hear even the slightest trace of an accent? No, you don't. If you were a Kryptonian, you would. You would hear what they claim to be an accent common to the southern regions of Krypton."

"And you got this form touching Kara while you were still a mutant." Logan's tone was definitely skeptical. "Okay. But what about you and Kara? Are you sure this thing between you is not because of that?"

"Oh I am sure it has a bit to do with it." Rogue answered easily. "After all, I had, and still have, all her memories here." She touched her temple. "I know her almost as well as she knows her self. And to be honest, I think some how, she got part of me. I've discussed that with Jean and the Prof. Though they can't see how that could have happened, they are both convinced that there was some feedback. That I could not handle the initial in rush of power and memories. They believe some sort of backwash occurred. Sending some of my memories into her. Not much, and nothing that she can access like I can her memories, but enough to allow her and I to form a bond closer than either of us have ever known." She crouched down by Logan's chair. "I love her, Logan. You can't believe the feelings I have just being around her. And I know that she feels the same. We are happy together. The emotions are not faked or forced on us. They are real."

"And the twins?"

"Not the same." Rogue shook her head. "The memories I got from Kara were from her, not the buried memories of the clone body she's in. Those are the memories that came out when Kara learned that the clone had given birth to a daughter. But I love them anyway. As if they were my daughters. I didn't need to have a transfer of memories for that."

Logan studied her upturned face quietly for a long moment. Then he nodded sharply.

"That's all I wanted to know." He said, finally. He stood and pulled her to her feet. "Now you get on to bed." He turned back towards the exit with a sigh. "I'm going to see what kind of trouble I can get into."

Rogue laughed and, after a quick hug and kiss on the check, hurried down the glasteel tunnel towards the smaller dome that she and Kara shared.

"Kara?" Rogue stepped quietly into the darkened room. Softly she moved to the bed and brushed her hand over the sleeping blonde's forehead, smiling as those blue eyes flickered open. "I'm back." She whispered. She bent down and kissed her lover gently on the forehead. "You go back to sleep, I'm going to go take a shower." She stood and moved into the adjoining shower room and quickly stripped out of her costume. Though Ian had repaired the damage done to the forest by the fire creature, he had forgotten to get rid of the lingering odor of smoke that hung in the area. Now her clothes, hair, and body smelled strongly of smoke.

She stepped into the shower, letting the hot water run over her body, soaking her hair, closing her eyes in ecstasy.

"Want me to wash your back?" She opened her eyes to see Kara, her eyes still partly lidded from sleep, peeking around the edge of the shower curtain.

"Always." She answered, surprised by the huskiness of her own voice. Kara smiled and stepped in as Rogue held the curtain open for her. She let the curtain fall closed as Kara pressed up against her, her mouth pressing upon her own as the steam from the shower rose about them….

Sunlight filtered in though the glasteel walls, bringing kara to at least partial, awareness, her eyes opening onto the glorious vision of snow covered peaks.

Stretching, Kara turned on to her side, propping her head on her head, her elbow resting on her pillow, as she gazed down at the still sleeping Rogue, her hair strewn over her pillow, her face seemingly frozen into a contented smile.

Though they had been together for such a short time, Kara had fallen deeply in love with this woman and that surprised her. Never before, in the time before the Anti-Monitor, had she ever even considered having a relationship with another woman. It was not taboo or looked down upon in Kryptonian society as it was among many Earth societies. Kara had just never felt any inclinations in that direction.

But now! Her encounter with Ian had brought that to the front of her thoughts. She had flown into a rage at the thought of Rogue being hurt and had done her best to kill the guilty party. Not catch, not hurt. Kill! She had wanted to rend him limb from limb!

It was, she knew, partly due to the fact that Rogue was the one anchor to this new life that she could count on. Sure, there were the twins, but that was different. This was…more. She shook her head, smiling to herself. Even thinking of how angry she had been then could not curb the feeling of happy contentment that filled her now.

"You're thinking too much."

Startled, Kara realized she had been staring off into space, unaware that Rogue had open her eyes and was looking back up at her.

"Thinking about you." She rallied to answer.

"Good thoughts, I hope." Rogue smiled uncertainly.

"Just thinking how much I love you and what I would do if you… if you…"

"Shhhh." Rogue put her fingers on Kara's lips to hush her. "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." She then let her hand travel up around Kara's neck and pulled her face down to hers. "And I love you too."

Their kiss lingered until finally Kara broke free and pushed herself up, flushed and breathing heavily.

"Stop that." She chided breathlessly. "Keep that up and we won't get out of this bed and we've got things to do."

"I know." Rogue sighed. "You know, one of these days I would like to just take a week off and see if the world falls apart with out us." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and started to speak again when a loud Klaxon began blaring. Over the top of the door, a red light flashed furiously. "I guess that answers my question." She grumped.

"Problems!" Kara, racing for the door, was brought up short as Rogue caught her arm and jerked her back.

"Do you plan on going like that?" Rogue asked, glancing pointedly at Kara's nakedness. "I think people would talk."

"OH!" Kara grinned sheepishly and moved to the closet.

"What have we got?" Kara stepped into the main Communications Room of the Fortress, nick named the Bridge by the twins. She had taken the time to throw on a pair of jeans and a white tube top before racing out the door. Lar looked up from the console where he was seated and raised an eyebrow at Kara's disheveled appearance. Though she could feel the blush that covered her face, Kara stared him down, daring him to say the wrong thing. Clearly he got the message for he faked a cough and covered his mouth with his hand, hiding his smile.

"An emergency transmission from Kandor." Jenny explained, smiling openly. The smile dipped however, as she continued. "I got here first and gave Zor a buzz. He told me to sound the alarm and then put me on hold."

"What's all this racket?" Everyone turned to see a bleary eyed Logan step through the sliding doors. He stopped and then bounced forward as the twins hit him from behind. Kara didn't bother asking how he had accomplished getting down the mineshaft.

"Hail hail, the gang's all here." Rogue muttered. She turned back to Lar. He was busy making sure all the connections that allowed free flowing communications between the fortress and Kandor were in working order. They were still working out the occasional bugs that popped up from time to time in the hastily assembled equipment. He finally nodded his satisfaction and sat back to wait.

It was not a long wait before the main screen sprang to life, showing a very harried Zor El.

"Sorry for the delay, Jennifer." He said, and then noticed that he had a bigger audience. "Daughters, girls, Lar." He nodded at them all. By Kryptonian custom, Rogue would have been considered a daughter for so long as she had a relationship with Kara. However, due to her past aid in saving the lives of every living Kandorian, Zor and Allura had officially acknowledged Rogue as a full daughter, no matter what her relationship to Kara.

"Remember what I once asked you about incest?" Rogue had joked upon learning that she now had the legal right, by Kryptonian standards, to add Zor-El to her name. It was a bit late since she was already listed as Rogue Zorel in her old Probability.

"What's the problem, dad?" Kara demanded, stepping forward. His eyes widened at her appearance but he answered the question.

"A problem it is, Kara." He said. His picture faded and a map of the southeastern coastline of the United States sprang into view. "You have an army bearing down on you!" A line appeared, moving around the tip of Florida and up into the Gulf of Mexico, an arrow resting well west of the City of Houston Texas. "We can't tell where they came from. By all our systems could see, it just appeared out here" a circle appeared further out in the Southern Atlantic. "and moved along this line. We have no idea how they moved as far as they have before we noticed them, however, they have come aground here," a small circle appeared, highlighting the landing point, "and have progressed inland to here." Another circle appeared on the map. This time, however, it did more than highlight. This time the area encircled was enlarged.

"Impossible!" Kara exclaimed. "I just came from that area. There was no army there."

"They reached that point about an hour ago." Zor clarified. "Just south of the city of Smithville."

"And just south of Ian's Woods." Kara noted. She didn't notice the narrowing of Lar's eyes.

"You think that damn fool has anything to do with this?" He blurted before thinking.

"No, I don't." Kara shot him a hard look. He didn't need to be told verbally that he was being ordered to back off. While it was understood that he did not like Ian, Kara would expect him to keep his personal feelings under control. He could not be allowed to let his personal feelings for the man to endanger a possible alliance with this powerful man.

"And don't you let your personal feelings interfere between you and Lara?" Her own conscience told her. She grimaced and turned her attention back to the map.

"No," She repeated herself. "Look here." She traced a line that went through the forest and ended at the community of Memphis…. the Rebel Base Camp. "They are moving to engage the Rebels!"

"Why would they do that?" Karen asked. Intelligent as she and Carrie might be, neither was knowledgeable or experienced in warfare.

"Those Rebels are the largest armed force in the area." Logan supplied the answer. "Take out the Rebels and a greater portion of the southern US is left undefended."

"Exactly." Kara nodded. She turned back to the screen as the map faded and Zor's image reappeared. "Are you wanting us to contact the Rebels?" She asked her father.

"No." Zor shook his head. "Something does not strike me right about this Kara. Though you haven't asked, we have been keeping tabs on the small force in Washington. We get clear numbers on them and even have a good idea of their armament. Now this new army is something else entirely. We know they are there. We can see them. But only in mass. We can't get an accurate count, we can't get fix on what their tech level is, and we can't see how they are armed nor can we even attempt to guess as to their intent!"

"An army moving in on the coast of Texas?" Logan snorted. "Well they damn sure aren't going to a rodeo or heading to Billy Bob's in Dallas."

Zor El looked at the strange man and then back to Kara.

"Besides," He smiled grimly. "I don't believe we need to inform your Rebels, Kara. They already have a sizeable force moving south, presumably to intercept this unknown."

"How could they have known?" Jenny was perplexed. Zor shrugged.

"That we can't answer. We have no contact with them, but we know that they have nothing in orbit that might give them intelligence-gathering abilities superior than our own. The fact remains, however, that they know and are already moving. In fact, it seems they are skirting the edge of that …wooded area." The woods still perplexed the Kandorians. They had watched, via time-lapse views, the two Texas State parks grow and merge. Zor had instantly ordered a close watch on the other forested areas in the state but so far there was no sign of anything unusual. Of course, the Sam Houston National Forest was already unusual. The dark wooded area was now a mixture of modern and prehistoric flora and fauna. The waterways now choked with ferns and infested with a population of creatures both known and unknown.

"Thanks, Dad." Kara spoke, coming to a decision. "We're on it. Be sure to keep us informed of any changes. Fortress out."

As the screen faded, Lar couldn't help shaking his head.

"I have to admit it was a good idea to have the Kandorians be our eyes in the sky, Kara." He said.

"Yeah, well. Let's see if we can put the information they gave us to good use." She was standing taller now, once again the leader of the little band of heroes. Though outwardly unconcerned, Logan could not help but be impressed. Since first meeting her, Logan had noticed the changes in her as time went by. Quickly moving from a lost little girl to the proud mother and decisive leader she had become.

"Jenny, I want you on stand by." Kara was saying. "Some one needs to keep an eye on those people to the north and I don't want us all down south if they move and just happen to have metas with them. As was recently pointed out to me, you are easily the most powerful of us so I believe you would be able to handle anything that might be thrown at you until back up arrives." She turned to the others as Jenny nodded. That Jenny was not happy about the decision was understood, yet Kara was aware that Jenny also understood the need for caution.

"Lar, you and Rogue will accompany me. We'll head down and see if we can't get a good look at this army before they lock horns with the Rebs."

"What about us?" Kara turned to see two girls, all geared up to be defiant, looking at her. Her first inclination was to tell them to stay in the Fortress and out of harm's way. It took a great effort to squelch that.

"Carrie, Karen, I want you and Logan to head down behind us and link up with the lead element of the Rebs and tell them what is going on. You are to stay with them and give them aid if they come up against metas." She paused and then shook her fingers at them. "You will listen to what Wolverine has to tell you until you reach the Rebs. At which time you will inform the ranking officer that you are temporarily under his command."

The twins chewed this over and then nodded acceptance of the orders.

"Okay then, Let's get going." She headed for the door.

"Oh Kara!" Lar called out. "I would change clothes if I were you…" He smiled evilly "that thin white tube top is…uh…rather revealing. Every curve and dark spot, if you get my meaning." He grunted as Jenny landed a balled fist on his shoulder.

Though she blushed furiously, Kara gave no indication that she heard. She did, however, cross her arms over her chest as she stormed out the door.

"Why didn't you tell me I was showing through?" Kara demanded quietly of Rogue as the group flew southward. They were keeping the speed down to allow Logan to keep up in the new, air-bike he had brought with him.

"How was I to know you didn't know what you were wearing?" Rogue answered. Then she flew closer "Besides, I liked what I saw. Gave me ideas."

"What kind of ideas?" Kara smiled as Rogue flew close enough to whisper in her ear what she had been thinking.

Traveling what was the left of the road of the erstwhile United States was not a speedy process. Weather and time had taken its toll on the unattended roadways, making some virtually impassable. To their knowledge, only those roads in Rebel held territory, and those roads leading through and around Metropolis, and in small communities around the nation, were in anything even resembling fair condition. With the exception of Metropolis, the people had pulled together to repair and recondition the roads in their immediate area. In Metropolis, the people had whined and cried until Lex Luthor had gleefully stepped into the role of Big Brother to do it for them. It was the same in all the larger city centers. It was an established fact that Liberals congregated more in cites while those of more Conservative or Libertarian tendencies – those who practiced more individualistic lifestyles, those who did not need Big Brother Government to hold their hands, those who did not believe that some other person's supposed 'need' gave them a claim on the products of some one else's hard work –grouped together in smaller communities.

So it was in these smaller, rural communities that road conditions fared better. Unfortunately, these small communities did not have the resources to extend their roadwork far. This meant that, while the small town roads were in fair condition, the long highways and byways between communities were left unattended.

So, what should have been, at most, a trip of mere hours from Memphis, Texas to Smithville, Texas had been slowed to a crawl that had stretched into three days.

The Rebels had moved out of Memphis, three Brigades strong, on what appeared to be nothing but a whim. Buddy, giving no reason, had simply ordered them out, geared and armed to the max, and then led what, had the roads been better, would have been a headlong rush towards something only he seemed aware of.

"Get the scouts out!" He had ordered. He had stuck his finger on spot west of Houston on a map. "I want them to start here and then work backwards towards Smithville. I want them in constant contact…updates every two hours on the hour. Oh and one more thing." He stopped the commanders before they could relay his orders. "Women scouts only. Don't ask, just do it. You'll understand why when I do."

And so the scouts, able to travel further and faster on these roads in their smaller vehicles had pulled out, leaving behind column after column of Rebel vehicles trudging painfully slow across the cracked and pitted roadway.

Traveling near the front of the columns (those beneath him, with the help of his own team, had successfully blocked all his attempts to be in the very front), Buddy had ample opportunity to consider everything that had happened since their arrival in this war torn, meta ravaged, and mutant infested world.

They had found a world in ruins, a United States torn asunder, and had jumped right in to help rebuild it. Rebuild it under their terms, however. He recalled the meeting he had promoted and hosted some weeks earlier. Leaders of various communities form all areas of the country had gathered together to discuss ways and means of recovery. Many leaders had left in a huff rather than give up any of their own authority or because the Rebels flatly rejected their liberalistic/socialistic notions. Other leaders had stayed and listened and then returned to their communities only to find their people unwilling to live under what they considered the oppressive rules of the Rebels. (How could any right thinking person even consider using one of those big bad guns to shoot a criminal when it is clear that it is not the criminal at fault but the victim.)

And other leaders had left enthusiastic, returning to their communities and successfully establishing a rebel outpost where law and order reigned and the criminal could count his time left alive in the minutes.

"Coming up on the Mirkwoods, General!"

Buddy was drug from his thoughts by his driver's announcement.

"The what?"

"The Mirkwoods." It was Betsy that answered while the driver tried to accomplish the impossible task of dodging potholes. "One of the older sergeants called it that one day and it stuck." She took on a puzzled look. "He also told those around to look it up when he was asked about it. Boss, I have gone over every map and have never come across any reference to the Mirkwoods."

"You won't, Betsy." Buddy laughed. "The Mirkwoods is a fictional place written about in a book called the Hobbit."

"Is that one of your father's books?" Rita asked. "I thought we had copies of all his works.'

"No. No." Buddy shook his head. "That was written by J. R. R. Tolkien back in the 1930s and 40s. I would imagine that the sergeant has a copy and as soon as we can, we need to get it from him and make copies. It should be required reading in schools."

"Would that be plagiarism?" Betsy asked.

"Technically yes." Buddy nodded. "Yet I would venture to guess that we don't have to worry about paying royalties." They were starting to skirt the edge of the woods now. "Betsy, make a note. The Mirkwood (let's make that official) is totally off limits to Rebels. We don't want to antagonize this 'Wizard of the Woods' if we don't have to. Were he not in there, we would set it aside as a wildlife reserve like we did with the Sam Houston National Forest"

"We know there is something in there, we know that, whatever it is, it is powerful." He had told them. Of course many of them had heard about the so-called Wizard of the Woods, though no one, to their knowledge, had seen this wizard. They had no idea that Buddy already knew a tremendous amount about the Wizard and had made a decision to leave him be until a formal contact could be made. He hoped that, rather than an enemy; he could have an ally in this strange woodsman.

As the long column of Rebels skirted the edges of the woods, many of the rebels had kept their weapons at hand, tightly gripped, while their eyes constantly tried to pierce the dark undergrowth. That they were being watched was a feeling they all had. Yet none could say that what they felt was malicious. Rather, it seemed, the watchers were curious. Just how curious had become apparent when Buddy had called a halt to make camp for the night, still within spitting distance of those dark woods. Sentries were doubled and the entire contingent of Rebels settled down to get some much-needed rest.

Corporal John Carrison, one of the younger Rebels to make the transfer from the Old World, had trouble getting to sleep initially. That, in itself, was unusual. Though young, Corporal Carrison was a veteran of many battles, having fought for simple survival before joining the Rebels and fought many pitched battles with the Rebels since. And like all experienced soldiers, Carrison had learned to grab food and sleep when ever possible. Who knew when the next chance of eating or sleeping would come?

Sleep, when it did come, was fitful at first, filled with sudden starts from light dozing, before allowing him to sink into a deep, restful slumber.

He had twisted and turned in his sleeping bag, trying to find some comfortable position that would allow him to get the rest he needed. It was only after some time that he was able to drift downward into a dream state, far further than was usual to soldiers in the field…and potentially dangerous.

In his dreams, the morning had dawned bright and clear and he had awoken, to find that the Rebels had moved out, leaving him behind. Cursing a blue streak, he had gathered his things together, fully intending to catch up with his comrades. A little walking, with full gear, soon showed that he would never catch them by falling their trail. So it was, with some apprehension that he decided to try to catch up by cutting through the edge of the woods.

Hardly had he entered the woods before he felt the chills running up and down his spine. His M-16 at port arms, he had quickened his pace. He wanted nothing more than to get out of these woods.

As he jogged through the woods, in his dream state never once questioning that his progress was unrealistically easy considering the denseness of the woods, he kept his eyes peeled, trying look into each shadow, trying to determine whether or not he was going to be pounced on by some wild animal in the next moment.

It was not until he entered a clearing (in his dream state he ever questioned that he went against all training by boldly jogging out into the middle of a clearing, far from any potential cover), that he caught sight of the first living thing, other than plants, he had seen in these woods.

At first, he thought he had found a child, so small was she, reaching no higher than his chest. Yet, as he neared, walking softly now, his eyes widened. Dressed in some un familiar material that did more to accent her perfect figure more than it hid it, there was no denying that this was a fully grown woman, her long hair drifting in the breeze that curved down over the tops of the trees to swirl around in the clearing. The gauze like material of her…clothing…puffing and rippling as she stood, watching him approach. As he drew nearer, his eyes narrowed in confusion. He could make out her features better now and, though her figure showed her to be a woman, her face was so filled with innocence as to seem child-like. Her eyes, slanted in a fashion that could never be mistaken as human, regarded him with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. Her ears, tapering upward into a slight point, even seemed to twitch ever so slightly.

Her eyes rested on his weapon and her small, button nose wrinkled as if in disgust. So caught up was he in her beauty, Carrison gave no notice as the weapon faded from existence.

Something was wrong! Even in his sleep, Carrison's warrior instincts were kicking in, warning him. With a start, his eyes flew open! He was still in his sleeping bag, still in the middle of the Rebel camp. And bending over him, her nose mere inches from his own, was the girl/woman of his dream, her eyes twinkling with mischief and amusement.

"Boo?"

"AAAHHHH!" Carrison scrambled to exit his sleeping back, while at the same time reaching for his M-16.

"What I want to know is how they got into the camp!" Rita was storming, her face red with barely suppressed fury. She was addressing the assembled sentries, each of them looking as if they would rather be anywhere else. Through out the camp rebels, mostly men, had awakened to be greeted by the sight of the elfin like women regarding them with wide, curious eyes. "Who knows what they could have done!" Rita continued. "They could have even gotten to the General!"

Buddy smiled as his diminutive bodyguard raked the sentries over the coals. He wouldn't interfere, though he was certain that no one, no one human that is, could have kept those dryads out of the camp if they wanted in. And he was not about to tell Rita about his own encounter with Andaria, the leader of the Dryads. No one would ever know what she and Buddy had talked about or what had transpired between the two during her short visit.

Now the Rebels had stopped and were digging in just north west of Smithville, the woods at their backs.

"Heads up! Bogies coming in from the north!"

Buddy stepped out of his CP and looked up just as Kara, Rogue, and Lar flashed past overhead.

"I wonder where they're going." Rita said, stepping out beside him. Both were in full combat gear, weapons at the ready.

"Probably the same place we are." Buddy mused aloud.

"Yes sir, they are." Buddy and Rita turned as one, Rita falling into a crouch, bringing their weapons to bear.

To their credit, and to Logan's embarrassment, the twins instantly interposed their bodies between the weapons and him. A lesson both had already learned. Their invulnerable bodies would protect his from any bullets that might fly in their direction.

"You are General Raines, aren't you?" Carrie asked.

Buddy and Rita looked at each other. Finally Rita shook her head.

"Twins." She said. "Twins."

"You are Kara and Rogue's daughter's, I take it?" Buddy asked, stepping forward. Both girls seemed to be taken aback. It was the first time anyone had suggested they were Rogue's daughters, though, in a way, they were.

"They are." Logan spoke up, pushing the twins aside so that he could face this Rebel General.

Like two bulls in the same pasture sizing each other up, the men glared at each other. Each taking the measure of the other.

"Ooohhh!" Karen clasped her hands and smiled beatifically. "I just love the smell of testosterone! Its so…. manly!

"Do you think they'll start pawing the ground and strutting any time soon?" Carrie asked, her voice completely serious. Rita smiled and stepped over by the girls while both men, stunned, turned to look at them.

"I'm going to like these two, boss." Rita told the startled Rebel Commander. Buddy quickly got himself together and stuck his hand out, smiling sheepishly.

"Buddy Raines." He introduced himself to the burly man standing before him. He held the hand there until Logan, almost reluctantly it seemed, returned the gesture and the men shook hands. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Mom said we were to stay with you." Carrie answered, making no effort to disguise the irritation in her voice.

"She also said that we were to consider ourselves under your orders until she says otherwise." Karen added, equally disgruntled. Buddy said nothing, looking to Logan for an explanation.

"Consider it a learning exercise." The X-man said. "They learn to take orders and work as a part of a larger team, and you learn how to incorporate…metas, as you call them, into your plans and utilize them effectively."

"And you?" Buddy asked the obvious question. Logan shook his head.

"I'm a loner, but in this case, I go where they go." He said. Buddy considered and then nodded.

"Rita, take the girls and get them issued with BDU's and other equipment." He ordered. "I don't think arming them will be necessary. But I would much rather they were a little less, obvious, shall we say." He then turned to the girls. "That means you are grounded, as of this moment. Go with Rita and get geared up and then get back here. You'll ride with my team."

As Rita led the girls away, Buddy turned back to Logan.

"That wasn't all of it, was it?" He demanded.

"For the most part, it was." Logan hedged. "Personally, I believe Kara wanted them some where relatively safe while she and the others checked things out." He started to turn back to his motorcycle and then turned back. He brought his hands up and grimaced, allowing the razor sharp claws to spring forth and waved them at Buddy. "And they best damned well remain safe!" He growled.

"They'll be as safe as any other person in this brigade." Buddy replied easily, showing no tendency to back up whatsoever. He waited till Logan started to turn away again. "Oh, and Logan." Once the man had turned back to face him once again, Buddy beckoned to a sergeant. "Go with this sergeant and get issued some BDU's." He ordered. "If you are going to be with us, you are going to wear tiger stripe Cammies, just like everyone else."

The men locked eyes, engaging in a contest of will. In the end, there was no victor and no loser, just grudging respect on both sides. Finally Logan nodded and followed the sergeant.

"Now just what the hell am I going to do with them?" Buddy muttered to himself. He turned and ducked back inside the CP where his Exec and Company Commanders and the Brigade Commanders of 3rd and 4th brigades were waiting.

"Okay, gentlemen." He started, taking his place at the front of the group. Betsy, his communications aide, had set up a map to which Buddy now referred. "We are here." He used a pointer to indicate a point just north of Smithville. There were several glances towards the marked up areas on the map that showed where once two state parks had existed, now one huge forest flourished.

"The 4th Brigade will remain at this point and spread out to form a defensive wall. That'll keep our asses covered just in case." He stopped as Rita and the Twins entered and motioned for them to remain standing near the back. He then looked to his Exec. "Jim, you have the latest scout reports, let's hear them."

The Exec of 1st brigade nodded and stood, facing the assembled officers and non-coms.

"Wherever the General got his information," he paused, giving Buddy a sidelong glance, "it was correct. A large force of unknowns, acting in extreme hostile manner, landed on the coast and promptly moved in a northeasterly direction. Where this force originated, we don't know. We do know what their tactics have been since landing, however. They make their way around the larger population centers and march right through the smaller ones." He cleared his throat. "It is the belief of the scouts that they are aware of us and are preparing to meet us a few miles south of our current location."

"What do we know of this force?" One Company Commander asked. The Exec looked again and Buddy and then shrugged.

"The General was correct in demanding that only female scouts be sent out on this." He finally answered, obviously perplexed. "It seems our invaders consist of warrior women. Amazons, to be exact."

"Amazons?" The Commanders looked at each other in astonishment. "We're not talking a bunch of dyke punks, I take it."

"No." Everyone looked as Buddy spoke up. "Get that out of your minds right now." He continued. "We are not dealing with criminals, terrorists, or punks this time around. These women are a bona-fide army. As such, rules of warfare will be adhered to…unless they first decide to ignore them."

"And if they do?" Was the expected question.

"Then its time to get down and dirty." He held up a finger. "Pass it on to your troops, this is not a usual situation. If any of these…ladies…surrender, they are to be treated according to the rules of war regarding the treatment of prisoners. Is that understood?" Buddy waited until everyone had answered in the assent before signaling the Exec to continue.

"Right." The exec nodded and went on. "Our Scouts tell us they are about two brigades in strength and are armed with short range weapons of unfamiliar design and…" he shrugged, "swords.

As the briefing continued, Buddy let his mind wonder, already formulating plans for their eventual meeting with these Amazons.

"Do you see what I see?" Lar was looking down on the assembled amazons, using telescopic vision, as he, Kara, and Rogue circled high above the encampment.

"Unfortunately, I think I do." Kara grumbled.

"Okay, how about letting me in on the secret.' Rogue demanded. Though she could see what the others saw, she did not have the frame of reference they did. They obviously were seeing something they recognized and, while she could eventually access those memories she had from Kara, it would take too long.

"Those are Amazons, Love." Kara answered. "From Paradise Isle. A magical place separated from the rest of the male dominated world by magic."

"Which tells me a whole hell of a lot." Rogue was getting a bit exasperated. "Why are they here and what is their beef with us?"

"I don't imagine they have a beef with us." Kara answered. "You see, Wonder Woman was the daughter of their Queen. So I imagine that is why they are here."

"Wonder woman? OH!" Rogue's eyes grew wide. "The one that Lex Luthor reanimated as a zombie!"

"That's the one." Lar nodded. "I would wager they saw that as a defilement and have decided to do something about it."

"Do something?" Rogue gave Lar a perplexed look. "Do what? Lara already took care of that problem."

"Probably not according to their way of thinking." Kara took a breath. "Okay, let's go see if we can stop this before it goes any further." She hesitated and looked at Lar. "Mon, you stay up here and keep us in sight. I imagine they well be a lot easier to deal with if there are no men about."

"You got it." Lar agreed. "But expect me down there if you run into any trouble!"

Kara nodded and motioned for Rogue to follow her down.

"They approach, My Queen." One of the Queen's Guards called out. Like the rest of the guard, she was heavily armed and armored. Each carrying a spear and a sword in addition to a rifle like apparatus that was carried at port arms.

Hippolyota, Donna Troy at her side, stood and watched, apparently unimpressed, as the two flying women swooped down to land lightly. That they understood the gravity of the situation was clear, as they had chosen to touch down at a distance that could not be mistaken as a possible attack. Then, observing proper decorum, they approached, the blond woman in the lead, and asked permission to approach the Queen for reason of parley. Hippolyota nodded solemnly, silently granting the requested permission.

"Your Majesty." Kara bowed before the Queen but did not, to the disgruntlement of many of the guard, bend her knee to the monarch. "If I may be so bold, why have you led your army from Paradise Island? What enemy has so offended you that requires such an invasion?"

"I believe you know full well what has called us forth." The Queen replied shortly. "You, I am given to understand, are the one called Supergirl. This other is unknown to me."

"Though once I wore the name Supergirl, that name is now worn by one of my daughters." Kara replied, her voice and tone sounding stiff even to her own ears. "For now I am simply Kara and this.." She paused and looked at the Queen and then took the plunge. ".. this is my friend, my warrior-sister, and my lover, Rogue!" If Rogue was surprised by this open admission, she did not show it as she bowed. Like Kara, she refused to bend her knee.

The queen regarded the two women for a long moment before turning to enter a large pavilion erected for her.

"Come." She told them. "We shall speak in comfort and with less," and for the first time she smiled, "pomp and circumstance.'

"It is time the men of this world were taught a lesson." The Queen told them once they were seated. Both Kara and Rogue had checked the place out with x-ray vision, making sure the tent was not lined with lead, thus insuring that Mon would not lose sight of them. Now they were seated on Greek style couches, transported with the army to insure that the queen's comfort was well maintained.

"Forgive me your Majesty." Rogue spoke for the first time, drawing on Kara's example for addressing the Monarch, "The lesson of death and destruction? Or perhaps the lesson of fear and uncertainty? In either case, I think they have had lessons enough. As have the women and the children."

"In truth, they have not!" Hippolyota fumed. At her side, Donna nodded her agreement with her foster-grandmother, her eyes smoldering with hatred. "They must be taught what it is to arouse the anger of the Amazons!"

Hippolyota leaned forward, her eyes glittering as she regarded the super women seated before her. A servant hurried forward and quickly refilled the Queen's cup and then scurried away. Kara watched the servant with interest, more than willing to let Rogue take the lead for a moment.

"There is no need for us to fight, however." The Queen was saying. "We do not make war on children, nor do we make war on sisters, unless those sisters openly side with the men against us."

"What are you suggesting?" Rogue demanded, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"That you join with us." The Queen was quick to pounce. "Surely you must see that with your power, nothing could stand against us. We should have this war quickly over and peace returned."

"At what price?" Kara spoke for the first time. She indicated the servant girl. She was not of Mediterranean descent, like a majority of the amazons. Instead, she seemed to be pure European Caucasian and scared to death. "Don't you have enough slaves?" Kara's tone was harsh now, not at all tinged with the respect with which she had earlier addressed the monarch. She stood, noting with a slight smile that Rogue rose to her feet at almost the same instant. "Is this what Diana would have wanted?"

"Don't talk about my mother!" The young woman with the queen stepped forward now, her hand gripped tightly on the sheathed blade she wore.

"Be quiet, Donna." Kara snapped, though her eyes never left those of the Queen. Startled at being addressed by name by this woman whom she had never met, Donna subsided.

"So the Seeress was correct." The Queen took on a thoughtful look. "You did know my daughter, as it seems you also know my grand daughter."

"Not really." Kara denied. "I knew Wonder Woman in another time and place. I looked up to her." Seeing the look of confusion, Kara tried to clarify a bit. "Where I came from, your daughter was a great heroine, to both men and women. They called her Wonder Woman." She finally turned to Donna. "And Donna was her adopted daughter, a girl with powers of her own. She took the name of Wonder Girl." She smiled slightly at the memory. "There was even a time when she and I could have vied for the same man."

"This makes no sense." The Queen stated, trying to digest all this information. "To my eyes, you look to be younger than my daughter, but not as young as Donna!"

"Time runs different in different places." Rogue cut in before Kara could answer. "But that is not the issue here."

"You are quite right." The queen drew herself up. "I have stated what it is that we shall do. War there shall be." She held up a hand before either Kara or Rogue could respond. "Yet this does not mean that there must be war between us. I see no conflict that lies between us. I do not ask for your aide in this battle. I simply ask that you not side against us."

In the past, Kal had often told Kara there were times when, as super powered beings, they could not interfere in the wars between differing factions.

"We are here for all people, Kara, not just the ones in this particular country." He had said. "If we wish to be effective, we must have the trust of the world. That is one reason why we stay out of politics. We can not afford to give even the appearance of partiality."

Now Kara was wondering if this were not one of those cases. She was wondering if perhaps they should step back and leave this battle to the combatants.

"We can't do that." Rogue answered the question, giving Kara a worried glance.

"Rogue is correct, Hippolyota." There were indrawn hisses at Kara's use of the Queen's name rather than her title. There had been hope in the eyes of the on lookers at Kara's hesitation, but Rogue's words and the sudden, stubborn set to Kara's eyes dashed that hope. "This is our world now. It is time to start rebuilding. Perhaps, at another time, were the world not in the shape it is in, we would step back, interfering only to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction. Now, we can't afford to do that. You are wrong in trying to punish all men for the actions of a few."

"Then you shall die right now!" Before the Queen could stop her, Donna leapt forward, her sword in hand, raised high and slashing downward. Instinctively, Kara tried to twist out of the path of the sword, though more for the sake of Donna's sword hand than her own hide. Her instincts saved her life!

The blade descended and though Donna tried to correct her swing, only the tip scraped against Kara's cheek, tracing a long, thin line of blood from just below her left eye to her jaw line.

Rogue looked at the cut in shock, though no one noticed. Several of the Queen's guard had pushed themselves between them and the infuriated Donna Troy.

"Hold!' The barked command brought everyone's attention to the Queen. "Enough, Donna. They came in peace to parley; they must be allowed to leave in peace! You disgrace me with such a cowardly act!"

Though concerned for the paling Kara, Rogue noticed that the young woman seemed to crumble in on herself, the sword dropping from her fingers, as she turned to kneel at the Queen's feet.

With out another word, Rogue led Kara out of the pavilion and together they leapt into the sky.

"I was about to come in after you!" Lar declared. He had stayed in position, watching and had started downward as the attack occurred.

"Kara's hurt!" Rogue exclaimed, noting that the wound was still bleeding freely. "We've got to get her back to the Fortress!"

"No." Kara shook her head, closing her hand over the cut in a feeble attempt to staunch the flow of blood. "Let's get to the Rebel camp. They'll have medics there that can at least bandage it and stop the bleeding."

"I though Kryptonians healed fast!" Rogue griped. "And how did it cut you to begin with?" She didn't wait for an answer before answering it herself. "Magic. The Sword was enchanted!"

"Yes." Kara agreed. "And that is why it is not healing. Or rather why it is not healing like it should."

"This is weird."

Buddy looked over at the medic working on Kara's cheek.

"What's weird?" He asked, peering over the medic's shoulder as he quickly and efficiently stitched the gash closed.

"This." The medic announced. "Watch." He took the curved needle and punched it through the skin along the edge of the gash, bringing it back out the other side and pulling the stitching material through. He then picked up another needle. "Now look at this!" He picked a point away from the gash and jabbed with the needle, exclaiming when the needle bent then broke. He then resumed stitching. "I've got to hurry this up. Its already getting tougher to punch through and pretty soon it will be impossible."

The trio had arrived at the Rebel camp, Rogue yelling at the top of her lungs for a medic. Rita, seeing the problem, had instantly set off at a run to fetch one while Buddy, the Twins, and Logan gathered around.

While they waited, Buddy led Kara into his CP and made her sit. He produced a compress from his own first aid kit and pressed it to the still bleeding cut.

"So you can be hurt." He whispered.

"I never said I couldn't." Kara responded, wincing as the throbbing pain from the cut became more intense. She caught the eyes of the twins as they stood in the tent entrance. She was sure they got the message. Invulnerability was a myth. Kryptonians could be hurt; it just took a hell of a lot more power to do it. That or, as the current circumstances showed, magic.

"You're going to have a scar." The medic announced, tying off the final stitch. "Nothing I can do about that. But it shouldn't be more then a thin line." He stopped talking and watched, open mouthed, as the bleeding came to a complete stop and the cut seemed to fuse together.

Rogue, seeing this, breathed a sigh of relief.

"The healing is finally kicking in." She told Kara. She touched the cheek lightly. "You have more experience than I do with this sort of thing, but I would say it should be completely healed in a matter of hours."

"It'll probably take days before it is fully healed." Kara corrected. 'And the doctor is right. Though not for any reason he knows. Had it been an ordinary cut, it would have healed by this evening and there would be no scar."

"But because it was magic it will leave a scar?"

"Exactly." Kara touched the stitched area gingerly, wincing a bit as she applied pressure.

"This isn't good, Kara." Rouge whispered, taking the blonde's hand. "The amazons have magic weapons. How are these Rebels going to stand up to them? Hell, how are we going to fight them?"

"The amazons themselves are not magical. Not really." Kara explained. She removed her leather jacket, grimacing at the clearly visible bloodstains. "The Rebels can fight them. You also have to understand that there are only a limited number of these Amazons. Their entire population is probably smaller than three of Buddy's brigades put together. So the Rebs already have them outnumbered. I would say that no more than two-thirds of the population of Paradise Island would qualify as warriors. And finally, the Rebs have something these Amazons don't."

"And just what might that be?" Buddy asked, breaking in on the conversation. "Frankly, the idea that these ladies have weapons that can hurt you people makes me a bit nervous. So what is it we have that they don't? We need every advantage we can get."

"Experience." Kara answered. "For all their war games and all their posturing, the Amazons of paradise Isle has not had to fight for thousands of years. In fact, Diana was the only Amazon to legally leave the island in many hundred years." She winced again at the dull throb in her check. "The Rebs, on the other hand, from what you have told us, have been fighting battle after battle for years. Your have seasoned, experienced troops going up again what are basically green soldiers. Green in that they have had few opportunities to use those warrior skills they try to hone to razor sharpness."

"So what you're telling me is that we are facing an army of extremely highly trained personnel, that have never been tested in true battle." Buddy summed it up, his fingers stroking his chin thoughtfully. "It would be foolish to underestimate them…" his eyes gleamed and he turned to Betsy.

"Get on the horn to the Company commanders and have them stand down the artillery." He ordered. "We're going to do this the old fashioned Rebel way."

"You mean down and dirty guerilla action." Betsy nodded, her soldier's smile promising nothing pleasant to the enemy."

"Right. I want the companies broke up into five men squads and sent out. The order of the day is terror. I want to put the fear of the Rebels in these ladies hearts." He turned to a map and pointed. "Here, here and here. I want hit and run tactics all along this line. Go in, do damage, and get out. No heroics, no standing and slugging it out." He turned to Kara. "It won't work with them all, but it will demoralize some." He paused, frowning and turned back to Betsy. "They are playing it honorable, so we will too. Med units and non-combatants to be left alone. Accept surrenders when possible, if not, leave them. Let's not kill them out of hand." He raised a finger to make a point. "However, the safety of the mission and our people are paramount. If you cannot take an enemy prisoner or leave her behind with out jeopardizing the mission or our people, knock her out. If that won't solve the problem…" he paused again, as if unwilling to utter the next words. Still, he was the Commander, and with command came decisions that were unpleasant. "…kill her."

Betsy nodded and returned to her radio equipment to relay the orders.

"You might want to hold off on that!"

Everyone turned as the tent flap was thrown back and Jennifer Walters and Sherrie Penison were escorted in.

"We've got problems." Jennifer started right in. Buddy notice that she addressed her remarks directly to Kara, like a soldier reporting to her commander. "Luthor's on the move!"

Kara locked eyes with Buddy and they both knew that, however bad things might have been, they just got a lot worse.

_End of Chapter 2…Chapter 3 is already in the works…Look for it near the end of January….if not sooner._

Story written and copyrighted © 2001 by Dylan Clearbrook,

and may not be reprinted without permission.

Lara Night and Sharon Holmes are original creations of Strike-Two © 2001 by Jason Froikin

and may not be used without permission.

Karen and Carrie Zorel-Dox are original creations of Dylan Clearbrook

and may not be used without permission.

Ian and Frost-Fire are original creations of Michael Liebhart

and may not be used without permission.

Buddy Raines and Raines' Rebels are the property of

W.W. Johnstone and Zebra Books.

Supergirl and some other characters are property of D.C. Comics

Certain characters are property of Marvel Comics


	5. Chapter 3

_**The Battle Begins**_

Chapter 3

Monitor duty was not among her favorite things to do.

Jennifer Walters, AKA The She-Hulk AKA Green Lantern, cupped her hands around a steaming cup of coffee as she huddled on a couch in one of the Fortress' communal living areas. At the moment, she was trying to enjoy a movie. For the time being, until the public airwaves were re-established, they had to make do with recorded movies shipped in from one of the other Probabilities. The one playing now was not one that Kara cared much for. Made in the Probability that She, Rogue, and Logan called home, this movie dealt with a fictional super-hero. The star, some one by the name of Helen Slater, did a good job in portraying a young girl called Supergirl, but the script was real weak. Kara had seen the movie and quickly took a disliking to it.

Jenny smiled at the memory. Before they had come to Otherverse, she had found a way to arrange a meeting between Kara and the actress. And now, back in that reality, the actress was busy filming a second Supergirl movie. This one with a better script and dealing with much more realistic topics.

With a sigh, Jenny uncurled herself from the couch and switched the movie off. She made her way to her room. Her Room! She stood in the doorway, fighting an urge to move down the hallway to the room she and Lar, until recently, had shared.

Moving into her own room had been her idea, not Lar's. She moved in and sat on the edge of the bed. If felt strange in here, after weeks of sharing a bed with Lar. For one thing, the lighting was difficult to get used to. In the rooms they had shared, there had been a slight reddish tinge to the lighting. Lar had insisted they install the lamp, which simulated the effects of a red sun on both Kryptonians and Daxamites.

Jenny shied away from that and her mind jumped to the twins. Perhaps she should mention something to Kara. She might want to have a talk to the twins. While they might be used to being around normals, it was doubtful they had any sexual experience. Kara would have to warn them that, with their powers, they could easily seriously harm someone in the throes of passion. All it would take would be certain muscles clinching and the damage would be done.

Of course, Lar's reasoning for the red sunlight was a bit different. As She-Hulk, not to mention Green Lantern, she did not have to worry as much about being hurt, though it could happen. What they had to worried about was her becoming pregnant.

And right now, Jenny was worried about that in a big way. More so than before, now that she and Lar were experiencing these troubles.

She stepped in front of a mirror and looked herself over, shaking her head at the changes that had come over her since she had gained the power of the Green Lantern.

At first, she had used that energy to mask her giant size. Now she had learned to use that energy to actually modify her Gamma radiated body. She was still green, that couldn't be helped. But no longer did she tower over the others. She had regained her pre She-Hulk height; though she could, at an instants notice, and with little thought, cause her body to expand to the recognizable She-Hulk dimensions.

But that was now simply for looks. Thanks to the Lantern energy, it was no longer necessary for her to have such a massive build to wield the tremendous strength that was at her command. She could remain at this normal size and still call on the strength of She-Hulk, if she wished.

She pulled herself up straight, liking what she saw. Then worry lines appeared as she placed a hand tenderly on her stomach. She really needed to get to Reed. She wasn't certain, but she had missed her last period, not that she was all that regular to begin with.

"Oh Lar, I can't be pregnant." She whispered. She tried hard to ignore that nasty little voice in her head that seemed to take perverse pleasure out of pointing out reality. The little voice that said 'Like hell you can't. You two were going at it like rabbits since Oa, what else would you expect?" and it was right.

After being contacted by this Probabilities Guardians, she and Lar had took off, their mission to take the newly created Great battery to Oa where the Guardians could look after it and start creating a new Green Lantern Corps.

The trip had been quick, thanks to her Lantern Energy, the ring she had gotten from Hal Jordon, which had implanted the directions to the planet in her brain, and Lar's ability to reach speeds she alone could never have attained.

They had dropped the Battery off, spending a couple of days with the little blue Guardians, and then made their leisurely way back to Earth. It was on that trip back that Lar had proposed.

Standing before the mirror, Jenny hugged herself, smiling as she recalled the rush of feelings that had filled her when he had popped the question. She had quickly agreed, though she had suggested they wait a bit...and now she was glad they had. If they had gotten married, they would probably son be looking forward to a divorce. She had She had hardly hesitated before accepting and had then watched, amazed as he grabbed the next asteroid they passed and fashioned rings for them. Now those rings would never be used. Or least, not in the near future.

Jenny sighed. It was really no one's fault. Who could have foresaw the eventual identity problems Lar would have? Probably anyone but her, she answered herself, bitterly. What else would you expect when you tried to merge two sets of memories in one body?

In an attempt to save at least one of them, Lar had been merged with an older version of himself…one with memories spanning well over a thousand years. And one with memories of another love that conflicted with the love felt by a younger Lar.

So it was for his sake as much as her own that Jenny had decided to cool the relationship. But now…what if she were pregnant? Should she tell him? Should she place that kind of burden on a person with enough mental stress already?

An incessant beeping that began sounding through the fortress interrupted Jenny's musings. She forced the worry of whether or not she was pregnant to the back of her mind as she raced for the nearest terminal.

She entered in her pass code and waited the scant second it took for the terminal to connect to the main system situated well below the Fortress.

A distress beacon! In Northern California, just south of the Washington/California border. It was a beacon Kara had furnished to Sherrie Penison before she had set out to discover what Lex Luthor was up to in the State of Washington.

She strapped a remote communication device on her wrist and within seconds she was shooting into the sky, a green tail of energy trailing behind her.

"How do I get myself into these messes?" Over the years since the collapse of anything remotely resembling civilization, Sherri Penison had learned to get along. From a police chief in Kansas City, she had become an expert at survival in this new, cruel world. She was tired of it. And who wouldn't be, at her age? She was pushing fifty though she didn't look it. In fact, she looked more like a girl barely into her twenties. It was not something that could be attributed to the Artifact. Though the Artifact was known to have extreme effects on a large portion of the male population, less known were the effects it had on a small portion of the female population. In many cases, it was nothing extraordinary. No great powers or abilities.

In Sherrie's case, it had been the gift of youthfulness.

Despite her current situation, she had to smile. At least one good thing had come from growing younger; she was now about the same physical age as Buddy Raines…and he had shown an interest in her!

The smile vanished as a bullet whizzed by, tearing through the thick foliage surrounding her. Where the hell was Kara? She had activated the beacon some time ago! In actuality, it had only been a matter of minutes, yet she had some idea how fast that woman could move and was genuinely surprised when she did not appear when the beacon was activated. If she took much longer she would have to deal with the situation herself…

A slight cough from her left caused her to turn her head ever so slightly. The pursuers, she knew, could not actually see her or her team, they were simply firing into the foliage, attempting to flush their prey.

The cough had come from the team leader, Capt. Diane. She made a few gestures, as if to say that she should start crawling away. She made it clear that she wanted Sherri on her way so she and the other Rebels could turn and make a fight of it. She shook her head and waited as a disgusted Diane slowly crawled towards her, making as little movement in the foliage as possible.

"Look, Damnit.' The Captain began as soon as she was near enough that she could whisper. "Some one has to get this information to the General and your friends. We can hole up here, make some noise and keep their attention while you make it out of here."

"Diane, I can't leave you here." Sherrie protested. "Besides, we should have help any moment now." The words had barely left her mouth when she, and every member of the Rebel Scout team was enveloped in a bright green glow.

The gunfire from the pursuers was harder now, though its aim had shifted. Now, it seemed, every weapon was trained higher in the sky. Risking a glance, Sherrie was surprised to see Jenny floating in the air her arms held out and to the side as she surveyed the situation. As Sherrie watched, the green figure seemed to grow, becoming the giant, imposing She-Hulk she had first met.

"Okay boys!" The giantess' voice boomed out, augmented, no doubt, by the Lantern Energy she now wielded to protect Sherrie and the Rebels. "Put your toys up and go home!"

If nothing else, the amount of fire directed towards Jenny redoubled. And then the unthinkable happened. Some one among the attackers pulled out a weapon the likes of which Sherrie had never seen. There was a bright yellow flash and a white beam flashed out to briefly touch the green giantess.

Sherrie had expected to see the beam bounce harmlessly off the green energy field that always surrounded Jenny. Instead, the beam slammed into the shield and sent jenny tumbling to the ground, the protective bubbles around the rebels vanishing instantly.

"Oh My God!" Without thinking, Sherri was on her feet, heading in the direction Jenny had fallen. She found the She-Hulk rising from the ground, her hand rubbing her rump, an embarrassed look on her face. "Jenny, are you okay?"

"Except for my pride." Jenny replied with a sarcastic lilt to her voice. "There is still a lot I have to learn about this Green Lantern stuff."

'I don't understand." Sherrie moved up next to the green woman, her m-16a9 at the ready, her eyes searching.

"I didn't anchor myself." Jenn responded, self disgust in her tone. "I didn't consider that, while the shield kept things from getting at me, it is not going to stop me from getting bounced around. Wait here!"

Jenny didn't bother with the Lantern energy this time, other than to shield herself. Instead, she strode through the foliage and headed down the throat of the pursuers.

Soon, Sherrie and the Rebels were listening, with a bit of amusement, it must be admitted, to the sounds of startled men being tossed around like matchsticks.

When she reappeared, wiping her hands, as if to remove dust, she had a smug look on her face.

"Why didn't you just use that Green energy stuff to lock up their weapons?" Sherrie asked, though she had a feeling she knew the answer. She wasn't wrong.

"That was a hell of a lot more satisfying!" The She-Hulk responded with a savage smile. "Every now and then it helps to take the edge off." She got a gleam in her eye as she continued. "Almost as good as sex!"

Sherrie started to comment that perhaps she should tell Lar that…then she recalled that the two were have a bit of difficulty and bit her tongue.

"Okay, so tell me what's up." Jenn demanded. Her demeanor grew serious as she regarded the Rebel Scouts.

"A lot." Diane spoke up, like the other Rebels, she hadn't slung her weapon, but kept it ready for any more problems. "And none of it good." She squatted down and spread out a map of the United States. "We're here." She proclaimed, pointing to an area near the northern California border. She then moved her finger further north. "A large force of Soldiers, presumably belonging to Lex Luthor, is here, about four hours behind us." She looked up to see if Jenny understood this. At Jenn's nod, the Rebel captain continued.

"Okay. We were sent up here to watch this force, to find out what this Lex guy is up to. Only it seems the General sent us out to late." She said. "This force, easily two brigades in strength, is only a fourth of the entire force."

"A Fourth?" Jenny didn't bother trying to hide her astonishment. "If that's a fourth, where the hell are the rest?"

"Some where in this area." The captain's finger swept downward and to the east, coming to a rest just north of El Paso, Texas. "We weren't able to get the exact location. But we did get the impression that they are heading south-east…though we could not find out why or what their mission is.."

"How did you get any of this information?" Jenny was stunned.

"One of my people is a whiz with communications." Diane responded, proudly. "He was able to tap into their comm. System. We were able to get quite a bit of info before some one on their side wised up and put a snoop in the system." She shook her head. "We don't believe they knew we were there, they were just taking precautions. In any case, the snoop detected our tap and the rest is, as they say, history. We've been running a fighting withdrawal since."

Jenn looked at the young Rebel captain with frank admiration. She then turned back to the map, her face troubled.

"This is not good." She said. "We have…ways…of gathering our own information." She was not sure how much Kara wanted known about the Kandorians. "Our sources told us about this group up here, and the numbers they gave us were similar to what you just suggested. But they have not said a thing about a larger force moving on Texas." As the others watched, the green giantess rapidly shrank until she was seemingly an average sized woman again. She placed a now slender finger on the map and silently traced south and east from El Paso. When her finger stopped, she let out a string of expletives that caused more than a few rebels to raise eyebrows and even caused some of the men to pale and cross their legs.

"I know what their mission is." She finally stated, her cussing temporarily over. She punched an area on the map with her finger. "Your General is here, and that is where they are going! And that is where Kara and the others are, as well." She started to cuss again, stopping only when she seemed to sway. She would have fallen over had not Sherri been there to hold her up.

"Jenn?" Sherrie's eyes were full of concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah." Jenn wiped a hand over her brow and was astonished to feel how cold and clammy she felt to her own hand. She stood and looked around a bit, as if to gather her strength. "What is this place?" She tried to change the subject. "I've been to Northern California on my world, and I've seen nothing like this."

"From what we have been able to gather from the few locals is pretty sketchy." Diane answered, watching the green woman closely. "In the old days, they said there was lead mine near here, but since the Artifact came, the area has grown up like you would not believe."

"A lead mine." Jenn repeated softly. Something about that struck a chord in her memory. Some vague recollection that she could not see clearly. She shook her head and gathered her strength. "Well, we have to get this information to your General and to Kara." She struggled to get the words out.

"You fly it to them." Dianne ordered. "I would rather not take the chance on broadcasting it with communications." She jerked her thumb at Sherrie. "And take her with you, if you can."

"I can do better than that." Jenn forced a smile, the feeling of nauseas that had come over her was fading slowly. "Get everyone together, we're going for a ride."

"Jenn, are you up to this?" Sherrie demanded, clearly unnerved at this sign of weakness in one she thought above weakness.

"Sure." The smile was less forced as the feeling of sickness passed. "Come on, let's get going!" A green globe surrounded each of the Sherrie and the Rebel Scouts. Jenny then sprang into the air, the green bubbles following behind as she headed towards Texas!

Lex Luthor was not a happy man.

At the moment, he was sitting in what had once been a lush office. Now the office was all but bare as workers moved out everything but the absolute essentials. Lex had long ago learned a lesson from one of nature's most gentle creatures. A rabbit, he had learned, survived because it always…always…had more than one bolthole. If one hole was plugged, the rabbit would instinctively bolt for the second, or third.

For a long time, Pelican Island had been one of Lex's boltholes. One he had never needed until that damned Kara got on his tail. That woman was just as much a pain as that Supergirl from the other Probability. Correction. Kara was worse. That other Supergirl was home where she belonged. Kara was still here, a constant pain in his ass.

And if Kara and her cronies were not enough, there was that blasted Lara Night, the annoyance Sharon Holmes, and the headache called the Rebels.

Lex rubbed his temples, as if to ease the throbbing of a true headache. Ever since that Kara showed up, things had being going sour. First the confrontation with the other Supergirl, then the appearance of Dr. Doom, then Lara, and then…

Lex slammed a hand on the desk, cutting off his own train of thought.

Lex grated his teeth. He had learned what he needed to know in order to construct a Probability Portal. He had used that knowledge to build such a device through which he had traveled to another world, the world, in fact, the other Supergirl called home, to obtain certain…items. Most of those items were now stashed in places around the country, Lex was too smart to leave all his eggs in one basket.

One item, the Book of Rai, he had already used. He looked at his hands, as if searching for some physical clue as to his new status. Of course, there was no outward change. But he could feel it. He KNEW that he was now one of those rare breed called immortals.

Correction, his analytical mind told him. The term was VIRTUALLY immortal. He would never die a natural death. His physical age would never advance beyond its present point. His body would heal from the most horrendous injuries. But he could still, with a lot of work, be killed. Though only a handful of people in this world could accomplish that task. Chief among them being Lara, Kara and her kind, and that damned Green Lantern. He did not believe the Amberite, Ian, had that ability…yet!

Yet immortality meant nothing if he could not achieve his goals. And right now, that seemed to be in doubt.

The latest news was disappointing. A small force of Rebels, it seemed, had escaped from his troops in Washington with information he would rather the so-called Rebels not have.

He had gone to great effort to make a big show of gathering forces in Washington. He had wanted the Rebels and those blasted snoopy Kandorians to believe his main force was congregated in one area. Using devices he had constructed himself, he had been able to move most of the force out without detection. Yet now the rebels knew that a large portion of his force was already within feasible striking distance.

Of course, from what he was able to gather from the reports sent to him, the rebels were still unaware of the smaller force bearing down on Metropolis. With the withdrawal of Rebel forces from the city, he had decided to move back in. There were still many secrets in and under that city they had never discovered. One such secret would be an ace in his corner. Buried deep beneath the Lex Corp tower, there were labs that had never been abandoned, that were virtually self-sufficient, that had never been discovered by the occupying Rebels.

Not that he would have been unduly upset if all but one had been discovered. That one, however, was of the utmost importance and he had sweated about it, heaving a great sigh of relief upon learning of the Rebel withdrawal. In that one, deep lab, under strict quarantine, lay the gleaming, metallic robotic skull Lex hoped would be instrumental in the destruction of those meddlesome heroes!

"Sir, The commander of the forces in Texas reports contact with the Rebels. They are just south of those strange woods."

The aides voice, even over the inter com system, sounded enthusiastic.

"Excellent." Lex stood. "Have him engage at once. But first, have him double check to insure that the troops have been issued that new ammunition we developed. It is certain that the renegade metas will be with the Rebels."

"At once, Mr. Luthor. Heil Hitler!" The aide signed off and Lex finally smiled. Perhaps the item in Metropolis would not be needed after all. He reached into a breast pocket of his khaki shirt and withdrew a single rifle round. Unlike ammunition normally issued to troops, these rounds were made with one think in mind….Killing Kryptonians! The Bright brass casing of the round was no different than any other. It was the dull, green projectile that was new. Green Kryptonite!

Lex dropped the round back into his pocket and headed for the door of his office, chuckling as he went. He paused to look back at the portrait of Adolf Hitler he had hung behind his desk. What a stroke of genius! His chuckling grew into full laughter. Genius hell. It was as simple as could be. Old Adolf may have been a batty old bird, but he had had something going for him. And now he, Lex Luthor, was using it to get his own way. For the time being, he would pay the lip service needed to keep his followers in line, but soon…soon…there would be no more 'Heil Hitler" It would be Heil Luthor. Still laughing, Lex tossed a sloppy salute at the portrait, middle finger extended in an age-old gesture. "Screw you." He whispered to the picture. "I'm better than you ever were, you two bit fraud. You were just a crazy man. And I…I am going to be a God!"

He let the door shut behind him as he made his way to the control center.

"They are about 10 miles ahead of us!"

The young, dark haired man looked up from his computer screen as the door of the Winnabago opened to admit a husky red headed, freckled young man of roughly the same age…about twenty or so.

"And they've stopped." The red head went on. "They pulled into to El Paso and started setting up camp." His face grew bitter. "Of course, that was after they rounded up all the old men and women and carted them off."

The dark haired young man nodded, as if unconcerned.

"Trading them to the Night People, most likely." He said it as if he were talking about nothing more emotional than the weather. The red head gritted his teeth but said nothing. He knew his friend well enough by now to know that he did not wear his emotions openly very often. It was, he knew, a protective mechanism. Suppressing the emotions allowed him to act with a clear head, without being swallowed by emotions that would drown and incapacitate a lesser man. "And the young women and children?"

"For the most part, the babies went with the old folk. The younger kids were put to work as slaves. Most of them. Some of them are…" He trailed off, unable to finish. The dark haired man only nodded. They had seen it a dozen times since they had started following this contingent of soldiers. The young children would be slaves until they moved out, at which time they would be delivered to the Night People, the cannibalistic breed of humans that now infested many of the shells of the larger cities. The Rebels called them Creepies and the name was apt. Not even the Kindred would feed upon the Creepies. Instead, they would simply wipe them out when they could. But for now, the Creepies out numbered the Kindred and so they flourished while the Blood drinkers, the Vampires, the Kindred, hid.

These soldiers they followed had empted over a dozen communities on their march, yet not all at once. Though all their hapless victims would end up under the carving knives of the Creepies, the young would first serve as slaves and the slightly older would serve as…sex toys.

"At least there are ten less that will take part in that damned rape fest." The red head growled deep in his throat. The other man finally showed some emotion….alarm!

"What did you do?" He demanded, though he had a sinking feeling he knew. His companion, though intelligent, was wont to act before he thought. In their team, he was the brains while the red head was the brawn.

"I took out some sentries." The Red head confirmed the other's fears, he held up a hand to forestall the gale he knew was coming. "I made sure I took out those on the other side. They will think what ever it was is in front of them, not behind."

"Did it not occur to you that this is where we had decided it would be time for us to stop trailing and try to get ahead of them so we can get to that forest before they do?" The dark haired one spoke through clenched lips. The look on the other's face told him the answer. "I thought not, you damned Fianna Ragabash!" he sighed and rubbed his temples for a moment. "Okay, we'll have to move now. We'll swing wide to the south and try to come up that way. Hopefully we won't be detected." He started shutting his equipment down and getting everything ready for travel. "You drive!" he ordered. "I'll try to screen us so we are not seen. I'll also see what I can do to smooth the road ahead of us so we can make some speed!"

The red head nodded and made his way to the cab of the Winnabago.

"Interesting." Ian stood in his tower, looking out towards the west. He had felt, a disturbance was the best way he could have described it. It was a familiar feeling, one he would get whenever another Amberite were approaching.

It was not a natural feeling, but one he had constructed for himself. An early warning system, if you will.

The interesting part, to Ian at least, was not that the warning system had been triggered, but that it had been triggered here, in this world. Not once, but twice. He was still trying to pin point that first disturbance but the closest he could get was an abbey to the north.

This one, however, was approaching from the southwest. Skirting around what he knew to be a large force of Lex Luthor's soldiers in El Paso.

"Interesting."

"Jenn! What are you doing here?"

"I received a distress call!" Jenn explained to the frowning Kara.. She sighed inwardly as Lar pointedly turned his back to her. Overall, the tempature in the command tent seemed to drop several degrees. She continued giving her report to Kara and Buddy. "Your Capt. Dianne is giving her information to your intelligence people now, General." She said. "She asked me to bring Sherrie straight to you so that you could hear about it first hand." Buddy nodded, accepted Sherrie's report, and then turned to consult the large area map that had been set up in his Command Post.

"That will put the forest to our north, the Amazons to our south, and Luthor's crud to our west." He mused. He was still considering the numbers arrayed against him and his Rebels when the tent flap opened again to admit Carrie and Karen.

"Jeesh, don't you super types knock?" Rita grouched. If Kara had not been in the tent, she probably would have sent the teens running after blistering their ears. Like most soldiers, Rita's command of…colorful phrases…was intensely more…advanced…than that of a mere civilian. As it was the twins merely looked at her and then moved to stand by Kara and Rogue, both trying to assure themselves that, despite the stitches in her cheek, Kara was all right.

Lar, for his part, was still shuddering after hearing about Jenn's rescue of Sherrie and the Rebel scouts.

"Lead mines!' he shivered involuntarily and Kara smiled.

"Oh come off it Lar." She teased. "You know you are immune to lead now. Thanks to that serum Reed gave you."

"Right." Lar glared at her. "I spent most of my life with the fear of lead poisoning all Daxamites have…and you tell me to get over it. Let's see how you react after Reed gives you a serum making you immune to Green K and then you go stand in a field of the stuff." Now it was Kara's turn to shiver…a shiver shared by Rogue and the twins.

"I see your point." Kara acknowledged. No one noticed the sudden look of worry on Jenn's face or the protective way her hand moved to cover her stomach.

"We can't fight them both." Buddy's sudden announcement brought everyone's attention back to him. "Not even with your help." He continued. "Even you can't be every where at once. Too many rebels would be killed."

"So what are we going to do?" Kara demanded, all business once again.

"You…" Buddy stressed by pointing, "are going to stay right here. I am going to go see if I can turn an enemy into an ally."

"What?" Everyone looked at Buddy as if he had suddenly gone insane.

"I am going to go talk to this Amazon Queen myself." He announced.

"Not alone, you're not." Rita asserted.

"I had no intention of going alone, little one." Buddy smiled at his bodyguard. He looked around at the group and smiled. "I'm taking you, Betsy, Sherrie, Karen and Carrie!"

"Now hold on there!" Rogue jumped up, quieting when Kara placed a hand on her arm.

"You have something up your sleeve, so spill it." She told the Rebel General.

"It's going to take a few days to set up,, but here it is…"As he outlined his plan, Kara had to admit that it just might work!

"Why do we sit here? Why don't we attack and be done with it?"

"Are you that anxious to die, Young One?"

Donna Troy's mouth dropped at the openly derisive tone from one of the commanders. They had gathered in the Smithville courthouse which had been commandeered for the Queen's use . The Commander was none other than the Councilor that had spoken against this war in the beginning.

"Are you such a coward that you cannot do as your Queen commands?" She shot back after gathering her wits.

Had she been younger, the Commander would have taken umbrage at the remark and called this foolish little girl out for single combat to teach her a lesson. It was not that she was no longer capable. But hundreds of years of life brings nothing else if not a degree of self control.

Instead, she stood and walked to the entrance, pulling it open.

"There you are." She said, through clinched teeth. "Take your weapons and charge the enemy. We shall remain here and await your mighty victory." Trembling with anger, Donna stood and started forward.

"Stop this foolishness. Stop it now, I say." Queen Hippolyta slapped her open palm against the table top around which she and her commanders were seated. She did not, now, seem as full of fire as she had been before they had left their island paradise. "Donna, you will sit down and you will no longer question the judgment nor the courage of those that have spent more time in true battle than you have years of life!"

Astonished, Donna turned and looked at the mother of the one that had adopted her. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but the Queen gave her no opportunity.

"Commander, if you would, explain to us, in terms Donna would understand, why we do not attack, why we sit here…waiting for the gods know what."

"Certainly my Queen." The Commander let the door shut and resumed her place. "To be blunt, we sit here in order to save lives…the lives of our warriors." She shook her head. "To attack now would be nothing short of suicide, my Queen." She spread her hands. "We have spent our long lives on our island, shutting out the outer world for the most part, for many long years. During that time, the arts of war have changed." She crossed to a board upon which a map had been drawn. "We are spread along here and the enemy is here." She drew two lines. "In our day, that would have been all we worried about. Where the enemy was and what his tactics would be. Yet we would be practicing the same type of war. Our warriors meeting theirs in open combat."

"And this is different now in what way?" The Queen demanded.

"The rules have changed." The Commander shrugged. "I can see the logic of why the rules changed as weapons evolved. It was no longer cost effective, in the terms of lives, to meet openly. Now they crouch behind cover and hurl death at one another from a distance."

"We have devices that can perform the same function." The Queen reminded the Commander.

"Yes, we do." The Commander nodded. "But how many of our warriors have trained in their use. To our way of thinking, such ways of warfare are cowardly."

"And this enemy? These Rebels? How do they think?" the Queen turned to the only man present in the room. He had been the leader of this small community when the Amazons stormed in.

Fearing an immediate attack, the Amazons had moved forward, occupying the small city as soon as Kara and Rogue had departed. What they had discovered in the small, struggling community had caused many to rethink their positions.

They had not found helpless women being dominated by evil men. Instead, they had found men, women, and children working together to bring their small part of the world back into some semblance of order.

There had been none killed when the amazons arrived, just a few injuries sustained mainly by males seeking to protect their loved ones.

Now they had occupied the city for a full three days and life was getting back to normal. People continued to clean, to work the small fields on the outskirts of the city, to struggle to raise enough food to feed themselves. Already the smaller children were back in school.

Seeing the struggle of the city inhabitants, many of the amazons had even pitched in to help.

"The Rebels don't glorify war." The man stated bluntly. "But they are professionals. They don't screw around with it. They go in, kill the enemy, and get on with life."

"Then why have they not attacked?" Donna demanded once again. The man looked at her and shrugged.

"I can think of two reasons." He said. He held up one finger. 'One, because you are in the city. That means they can't shell you with out killing the civilians. Two, because they have been watching you and don't believe you are evil."

"Evil?" Queen Hippolyta looked astonished. "how could any one ever think we would be evil?"

"Exactly how many good intended people do you know that declare war for no reason on civilians?" the man demanded. His tone caused many of the councilors-turned-commanders to hold their breaths, waiting for their Queen to explode as he went on. "Face it, you haven't shown that you are exactly friendly." He stopped and shook his head. "No, my guess is that the Rebs will make at least one more attempt to talk with you. Then, if you don't listen, you can expect them to start taking you out a few at a time. Attacking in the night, cutting a few throats, and then fading away."

"That….That's monstrous!" One of the Commanders gasped. "that is no honorable way to wage war!"

"Get this through your heads." The man's voice was strong as he stood. 'You ladies aren't playing with some one that accepts your out dated notion of what is and what is not war. In fact, you will not find many people that feel as you do. You have declared war on the Rebels. If they can not end the war peacefully and quickly, then they will end it in what ever way they can!"

"That is what we have been able to learn." The commander nodded. "They do not believe that there is honor in war. The believe that war is an evil that must be endured." The commander spread her hands. "It is their thought that war is not something that should be glorified, but rather something that must be avoided when possible and brought to swift conclusion when it is not avoidable." She paused. "My Queen, consider this. We sit here and yet we are not safe. We have learned that these Rebels have weapons that could reach us here. Those weapons point at us now. Only their restraint has stopped them from unleashing these weapons upon us." She would have continued had not a member of the Queen's guard not entered the tent in a rush, bending to whisper in her Queen's ear. The Queen looked started and then pulled her self together as she stood.

"Well now." She said, smoothing her gown. "it seems we are to have company, my commanders. Please remain seated while I greet our guest."

"I still don't understand why we have to carry these things." Carrie was scowling at the M-16 in her hands as the jeep she was riding in bounced over the road. Karen, for her part, had slung the weapon she had been issued over her shoulder and forgotten about it as she took in the scenery.

"You are supposed to be Rebel soldiers." Rita explained….one more time. "You would draw attention to yourself if you were not armed."

"It's not like you're going to do any harm with it." Betsy chimed in from her position behind the steering wheel. "There was absolutely no way we were going to give either of you live ammunition when neither of you seems to know the first thing about fire arms."

'Oh right, like we would have need of them." Carrie retorted.

"Consider it a prop in a play in which you are an actor." Buddy put in, trying to hide a smile.

"So we are supposed to act like Rebels. So what do we do? Act like her?" Carrie pointed at Rita.

"You better say no to that, Boss." Betsy laughed. "These girls start acting like Rita and Kara will tear you apart for corrupting her kids!

"Hey! I resent that!" Rita turned red as her companions broke into laughter. The laughter died quickly when Betsy started slowing the jeep down.

"Okay, Boss." She said as the jeep rolled to a stop. "Our scouts say there is an Amazon sentry post just ahead."

"Are the other teams in place?" At Betsy's nod he tapped her on the shoulder, he slung his weapon, motioning for the others to do the same. "Well then, Ladies. Let's go meet the Queen!"

_**End of chapter 3. Use menu on top to continue.**_


	6. Chapter 4

_**The Battle Begins**_

Chapter 4

Kara watched the Jeep carrying Buddy, Betsy, Rita, and her daughters; Carrie and Karen pull out, watching until it was out of normal line of sight.

"They'll be okay, Kara." Rogue spoke softly as she came up beside her lover, snaking an arm around her waist. She was aware that her action was causing a few stares (and not a few sighs from some of the Rebel men). She ignored them as Jenny, Lar, and Logan joined them.

"Kara," Lar started. "Has it occurred to you that this battle doesn't have to happen?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, that is what Buddy has gone to prevent." Rogue answered before Kara could respond.

"I'm not talking about the Amazons." Lar shook his head then jerked it towards the west. "I mean Lex's army. There is no reason for these soldiers, or the Amazons, if Buddy is successful, to go up against them. There will be a lot of lives lost."

"What are you getting at?" Kara turned to look at him.

"Look at us!" Lar spread his arms to encompass them all. "The four of us are the most powerful beings on this planet. We can handle this."

"Hey bub, I might not be as strong as you four." Logan cut in with his classic, irreverent drawl. "But I'm no slouch. Nor am I as inexperienced as any of you, with the possible exception of Kara here. You want my advice…" he paused to bite the end off a stogie and then light it up, puffing gently, ignoring Lar's look of disgust. "…You'll wait and meet that army will all the backup you can muster." He held the stogie between his fingers, poking them in Lar's general direction. "You've gotten cocky. You've gotten the idea that there's nothing here that can hurt you now that the Shard is gone. " Next he pointed to Kara's stitched cheek. "You better think again."

"That was magic." Lar protested. "We are talking about a regular army with possibly a few low power level Metas. We can do this." He turned to look directly at Kara. "If we don't, a lot of these men and women are going to be killed."

"In case you ain't noticed, these boys and girls are warriors." Kara was surprised to hear a tone of respect in Logan's voice. "They don't play games. This is their job!"

Lar opened his mouth to respond, stopping when Kara held up a hand.

"Logan is right, Lar." She said, almost reluctantly, it seemed. "Remember, Lex held Zal for nearly three months and then looted what was left of Argo City." She shook her head, still amazed at the knowledge that the Lex Luthor of this world was not only able to capture and hold a Kryptonian with full powers that race had under the rays of a yellow sun, but was also able, in this blasted out, post apocalyptic world, to successfully mount an expedition into space to the asteroid where the wrecked Argo City lay in ruins. They had all, she feared, seriously underestimated this man. "There is no telling what Lex was able to retrieve from the City that he could use against us."

Logan nodded, satisfied that Kara was at least thinking it through. Lar, on the other hand, was scowling.

"Damnit, Kara, this is our job and risks go with that job!"

"Just what is your job?" Logan demanded. "This ain't the world you came from, boy." He turned to Jenny. "You talk some sense into him." He said. "You have worked with a team...you know how it is. You worked with the fantastic Four." He then pointed his fingers at Rogue. "And you. . You know what having backup means." He then indicated Lar and Kara. "These two don't. They spent most of their time as Loners."

"That is not quite accurate." Lar cut in. "I have two sets of memories. One of being a young kid placed in the Phantom Zone and released by Reed Richards…as well as the memories of being released in the 30th century and working for several years with the legion of Super-heroes. I DO know what it is to work with a team."

"Logan's right, Lar." Rogue plunged in before Jenny was forced to respond. She knew that the two were having some serious relationship problems and wanted to avoid any spill over from that at this time. "Even if he never practiced what he's preaching now!" She glared at her friend and one time teammate. She then turned to Kara. Before she could speak, however, Lar broke in.

"Well think about this, then." He drawled. "If we don't face them down now, get this over with, then the Twins will be with us when we do face them. I don't think you are going to find a better opportunity to do this while they are not around." He folded his arms and waited, ignoring the glare of anger Rogue was giving him.

Rogue looked over to see what Jenny's reaction to all this was, only to find the She-Hulk turned Green Lantern totally absorbed in thoughts of her own.

"Well, a debating society never accomplished anything." Kara sighed after a moments thought. "you both make good points, so this is what we are going to do. We are going to get a look at this army. Size it up, if you will. Once we have an accurate picture of the problem, then we should be able to decide whether or not waiting for the main bulk of the Rebel forces to get into position is a viable option." She fixed Lar with a cold stare. "Under no circumstances are we going to rush in without getting a good look at what we are rushing into! If there is one thing Kal was able to drill into my head it was the need to think! All the powers in the universe are virtually useless if we refuse to use our brains!

Lar grimaced but nodded, lately it seemed that Kara was taking more advice from others than she was from the only person that could claim to be from the same reality as she! First Rogue and Jenny, then Ian, now Buddy and Logan as well! He stood straighter. He would just have to make sure that events occurred that showed Kara he was more valuable than any of the others!

If Rogue noted the dark gleam in Lar's eyes, she kept her thoughts to herself. Instead, she turned her attention back to Kara.

"Rogue," Kara pulled her aside. 'Look, we do have to get some good intell on what Lex has got waiting for us, but perhaps it would be wise for you and Jenny to stay here with Logan and help these people get ready…just in case Lar and I run into something we can't handle."

"Lady, I may not agree with you, but don't you even dare to pull this shit on me." Rogue poked her finger in Kara's chest. "If you think for one moment I am going to let you…." She trailed off, too angry and hurt at Kara's words to continue."

"Look, this is neither the time nor the place for you two to have your first lover's spat!" Lar cut in. 'If we are going to go, we need to get going." He turned to his wife and for a moment his face seemed to twist into a mixture of pain and confusion.. "How about it, Jen. You can stay here…."

Jenny shook herself out of her thoughts.

"Not on your life." She told him, forcing a smile.

"You're making a mistake. I feel it." Logan shook his head. "Go on, I'll help these people get ready."

Kara nodded and sprang into the sky, with Rogue, Lar, and Jenny right behind her. Once they were out of sight, Logan sprinted towards the communications tent. He was going to make sure Buddy knew about this latest development.

After giving the command to move on, Buddy had leaned back, closing his eyes to gather his thoughts. So deep did he go, it was a few minutes before he realized that the jeep had not started moving.

"Betsy, Let's not keep the Queen waiting…." He trailed off as he opened his eyes…and came face to face with…. something!

Hovering just before his face was a creature that appeared to be half bird and half animal, about the size of a small tabby. Its wings beating furiously as it struggled to hover in place, its head turning so that first one and then the other of the eyes in the bird head could look at him.

"What the…"

"I think it's a Griffin." Karen spoke up. She, like the others, was staring at the creature in amazement. "From Greek mythology. Part eagle and part lion. Only this one doesn't quite fit the description."

'Well, excuse me for saying so, but I don't think myths have a habit of flying up in people's faces." Buddy replied softly. He flinched back as the sharp eagle beak opened and the creature began squawking at him. "Where the hell did it come from?"

"The woods." Carrie responded shortly, pointing towards the wood line just visible to their north. "And, uh…it's not alone." She pointed up to where another Griffin circled lazily far above.

"Hmmmm." Buddy looked up and then turned his attention to the now insistently squawking Griffin before him. "You said this one doesn't fit the description." He was speaking to Karen now. As young as they were, these two girls were a treasure trove of information. "How so?"

"Well, according to the legends, they were just a bit bigger."

"How much bigger?"

'Oh, about the size of an extremely large lion of medium sized horse." Karen's voice was devoid of emotion as she spouted the information. Buddy about choked.

"A horse? I don't..HEY, Stop that!" The Griffin, obviously tired of squawking in an attempt to get Buddy's undivided attention, had darted in close and nipped him on the nose before backing away again. "Why you little…." His voice died as he locked eyes with the animal.

Rita's hands tightened on her M-16. She, of the group, had been the only one not to sling her weapon. Her job was to protect Buddy and she couldn't do that if her weapon were not in her hands. Now those hands moved, lifting the weapon ever so slightly. A faint squawk form the Griffin above caused her to pause.

During that time, the hovering Griffin's squawk's had dwindled while it gazed into Buddy's eyes, then, with a final chirp, it flew around and settled easily on Buddy's shoulder and began preening, as if he belong on the shoulder of this particular Human and always had.

"Uh, people." Buddy shook his head and gave his team a sheepish grin. "Meet Deet."

"Deet?" Betsy wrinkled her nose. "You named it Deet?" The griffin stopped it's preening long enough to look at her and squawk once in an indignant manner.

"Actually, no." Buddy responded. "That is the name HE chose for himself." He told the group.

"HE…Boss, are you trying to say that animal thinks and told you what its name is?" Rita demanded, her face a mask of skepticism.

'Uh, yes…as a matter of fact." Buddy straightened. "I'll explain more later. Right now, we need to get to the Queen."

-insert divider-

Deep within the forest, bent over a piece of equipment he was readying in his workshop, Ian's eyes lost focus for a brief moment. He looked up, smiling ever so slightly and then returned to the task at hand.

Barely had he gotten started again when his head flew up, his eyes wide.

"Kara? What are you doing?" He stood and spread his arms as equipment leapt from the walls toward him, attaching themselves to various parts of his clothing. He stopped just short of teleporting out of his tower.

He had felt Kara and the others as they flew over the forest towards the west and knew exactly what they were doing.

"Stupid." He muttered. "Gerald! Celia!" He took the stairs two at a time…he had some preparations to make before he committed himself and those aligned with him.

"Roger that. Eagle out." Betsy whispered into her headset as she and the others made the hike from the Amazon guard post into the town.

They had approached the post flying a white flag and, after explaining themselves to the ranking officer, had left the jeep behind to walk the rest of the way in…under heavy guard.

Now Betsy hung back, allowing Rita and the twins to take the lead.

"Message from the XO, Boss." She whispered. Then, knowing both twins had the same super hearing Kara had, she used sign language to let Buddy know what was going on.

For a moment, it looked as if Buddy were going to explode. Deet, rearing up on his haunches, let out a particularly un-birdlike roar. The nearby Amazons looked on with a bit of alarm, bringing their spears and bows up. The fact that Buddy had a griffin riding on his shoulder had caused quite a stir among the Amazons, this display just made them more jumpy. The Twins looked back to see what was going on and Rita turned to cast suspicious glances at both Betsy and Buddy. Buddy calmed himself and the griffin.

"Sorry, guess I ruffled his feathers." He quipped.

"Keep it quiet." He signed to Betsy when everyone's attention went back to the path they were walking.. "Don't let the twins know." Betsy nodded her understanding and moved a little faster, catching up with the others. Rita glanced at her suspiciously and then back at Buddy. The Twins were engrossed by the stern faced Amazons that accompanied them.

"_You must put them out of your mind. You must concentrate on this matter. There is no need for you to fight!"_

Buddy glanced at the griffin on his shoulder.

"_I do have a bit of experience at this sort of thing, thank you_." He thought back to the animal. His astonishment at seeing the creature was nowhere the level of surprise that had flooded him when he had felt the first mental touches of the small animal. Nor would it ever be an adequate way to describe the way he had felt as he and the animal bonded. "_Besides, I don't take orders from a bundle of feathers and fur_!"

Deet sniffed and Buddy winced slightly as tips of the talons the griffin had for front paws dug into his shoulder. He would have to get some padding sewn into the shoulders of his uniforms if the griffin was going to insist on riding there.

"_And why shouldn't I?_" Came the seemingly bored thought from Deet. "_It is where I belong! Now pay attention. We are almost there._"

Buddy looked up to see that Deet was correct. The Amazon's had come to a halt before the main doors of the Smithville's town hall. He took a deep breath as he looked at the woman standing there, seeming to radiate confidence and power. This was, there was no question, the Queen he had come to talk with.

As Buddy climbed the steps towards the Queen, he realized that more eyes were on Deet than on him. What was it Karen had said? Oh yes…Griffins were mythical creatures…from Greek mythology. From the way these women were reacting, he would venture that griffins had not always been myths. Some of these women reacted as if they were seeing something they had given up hope of ever seeing again.

He had given his approach a lot of thought. Should he bow or kneel as he approached? No, she was not his monarch and he was, in effect, coming to her as an equal, not as a supplicant. So, as he traversed the final few steps, he looked neither left nor right, keeping his eyes locked on those of the Queen.

Behind him, Rita and Betsy and behind them, the Twins.

"General Raines, I presume?" The queen inquired, her tone polite, her voice rich and accented ever so slightly, despite her flawless command of English.

Rita, who had been watching first Buddy and then the Queen, rolled her eyes as she noticed the confused lights dancing in the woman's eyes. Though she couldn't see his, she knew Buddy well enough to know the lights would be dancing in his eyes as well. She had noticed the look the first time he had met Sherri Penison and knew that the two had eventually shared…time…together. Though there was a strong friendship there, Rita had felt that both had realized their short affair had about run its course. Now Rita was sure of it. For her part,, Rita was satisfied. Though she personally liked Sherrie, there was just something about the woman that did not seem quite…right. Quite…natural.

"Your Majesty." Buddy bowed his head ever so slightly. A gesture of politeness…from one equal to another. There was a moment of awkwardness as the two sized each other up, each taking the measure of the other. A loud squawk by Deet broke the tension as Buddy frowned at the miniature griffin, bringing smiles to the faces of the surrounding Amazons. "I'm afraid he hasn't quite been housebroken yet….OOWW!" Buddy yanked his head to the side, fingering his suddenly smarting earlobe. "And he's still working on his manners!"

"It has been a long time since any of us have seen any of the mighty griffins….though it appears they have…" The Queen held her hands out and quickly brought them in, as if to show something big becoming smaller.

This brought a scattering of laughter from the Amazons and though she did not herself laugh openly, the Queen smiled. She bent her head to the side as one of the women with her whispered in her ear…nodding as she straightened.

"And I have been reminded of my manners, General." She stood straight "If you would, we can retire within where we can talk in comfort and relative quiet." Buddy nodded and followed as the Queen turned and entered the building.

Some of the women gave hard looks towards Rita, Betsy, and the Twins as they moved to follow but did nothing to hinder them. The Amazon guards, however, took up station on either side of the entrance, none entering in.

'You see that one?" Carrie nudged Karen in the ribs, jerking her chin in the direction of a shorter, younger looking Amazon. "She looks to be about our age."

"Well she's obviously some one important." Karen whispered back, noticing that the young Amazon took up a position behind the Queen. As Buddy took a seat and Rita and Betsy took up positions on either side behind him, the twins moved away, to stand out of the way and near one of the walls where they could see everything. Hearing what was going on would be no problem with their super hearing.

"Well then, general. Perhaps it is time we talk of what brings you to the enemy camp." Hippolyota started the ball rolling.

"I came to find out if we ARE enemies." Buddy laid it out, not bothering to beat around the bushes. Hippolyota made no answer, though she gestured for him to continue.

"To be honest, we've been watching you." Buddy admitted. "We've seen how you treated the people of this community. We've seen your people taking the time and making the effort to help out the locals. You didn't come in and start a male eradication program."

"And if we had?" Hippolyota tilted her head to one side, studying this confident young man. Here, she knew, was a warrior born.

"Then I wouldn't be here now." Buddy was blunt. "We would already be moving against you."

"And you think you could accomplish what with such a move?" One of the Councilors spoke up. She was one of those that had been firmly in the Queen's court when war was declared.

"We would have taken some casualties, there would have been some civilian casualties as well." Buddy did not bother to look at the speaker, keeping his eyes on the Queen. "But we would done what needed to be done and probably been back in our camp in time for lunch."

"You are so confident?" The Queen asked, her tone skeptical.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Buddy grew silent for a moment and then looked to Betsy, nodding slightly.

Betsy relieved that the Amazons had not bothered to demand she remove her radio headset, reached up to the mike stem that curved from her left ear to the left corner of her mouth and quickly tapped a small button twice. This produced a double click sound in her earpiece and she knew that the same clicking had been heard by the waiting teams of scouts. She nodded back to Buddy.

Though they all had noticed the quick exchange, only Donna Troy's eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"He is up to something." She proclaimed, dropping her hand to the sword at her hip.

"As a matter of fact, I am." Buddy stood, facing the Queen. "I have prepared a small demonstration, Your Majesty." He motioned to the door. 'If you would."

Hippolyota looked up at the young man, trying to read something of his intentions on his face. It was no use. His face was as calm, as assured, as any she had seen.

She stood and followed him to the entrance, nodding to the guards to open. Rita and Betsy followed Buddy, Rita motioning the Twins to remain where they were. Content to remain behind, neither Twin argued. It never occurred to them that, with their super senses, they could listen in and watch all that transpired outside as well as they had eavesdropped on what was being said around the table.

Even as they stepped out into the sunlight, the guards grew tense as the sound of several vehicles approaching reached them. Seeing that Buddy stood easy, making no hostile move, the Queen motioned the guards to wait. She wanted to see this demonstration. She did not have long to wait.

Eight jeeps, each carrying three rebels, roared into the camp and stopped before the courthouse.

It was not the Rebels, however, that had the Amazons staring in disbelief. It was the trussed up Amazon sentries in the back of each jeep that caught their attention.

"They haven't been harmed. Other than their pride." Buddy assured the Queen. He motioned for one of the Rebels to approach and the Amazons saw that it was another woman. "Any problems, Captain Diane?" He asked as she stopped in front of him. Though it was not customary for rebels to salute in the field, Buddy had made sure Diane knew what to do before they had even set out. She climbed the steps of the courthouse until she was about ten feet away, came to attention and saluted…smartly.

"Scouts reporting sir." She reported. "Goal accomplished. One injury." Buddy raised an eyebrow and Diane shrugged. "One of ours, sir. A broken arm." She gave a wry smile. "These ladies are not bad at all."

"Not good enough, it would appear." Hippolyota frowned as the tied Amazons were removed from the jeeps. On closer examination, she could see that many sported black eyes and darkening bruises but no real injuries. She got the message. They could have just as easily been killed.

"We don't wage war the way you do, Your Majesty." Buddy informed her. He then motioned Diane closer. "Diane, drop your injured member off at our Jeep. Betsy can tell you where we left it. Right now, I need you and your team heading west as fast as you can go."

"We heard the transmission from Brigade." She said, nodding. "What do you want us to do?"

"Find a route. As soon as you are under way, I want you to radio my XO and have 1st Brigade on your heels." He shook his head. "I have a bad feeling about this."

All the rebels perked up at this piece of information. Deny it though he might, there were many that felt Buddy was gifted with a form of second sight. If the general 'felt' something was wrong, then it was a sure bet something was wrong.

"Buddy, are you sure about this?" Rita asked, edging closer. She cast a glance back over her shoulder; to make sure the Twins were still in the courthouse. Buddy, aware that the Amazons were listening to every word, shrugged.

"As a matter of fact, I'm not, but we've got to do something." He said. He paused and reached up to stroke the Griffin on his shoulder. "Cancel that." He told Diane. "You and your team head west, but I want 1st Brigade to go into guerilla mode. Small teams. And I want them on the move yesterday."

"Buddy, there is no way they are going to reach them in time." Betsy chimed in.

"I know that. But we can't just sit on our asses." He told the radio operator. He turned back to Diane. "Tell them…" He stroked the Griffin again…"tell them to head straight through the Woods!"

Diane, a look of stunned disbelief on her face, could only nod as she turned away to follow her orders.

Hippolyota watched Buddy as he watched his scouts head out, seeing, for the first time, something besides a calm expression on his face. The expression he wore now she recognized as that of a man that believed he was sending good soldiers to their deaths.

"This is not part of your 'demonstration'?" She asked softly. She shocked herself by reaching up and touching him lightly on the arm.

"The Mighty ones go to fight the Corruption to the West of the Woods." All eyes turned as a Seeress and priestess climbed the steps of the courthouse.

Hippolyota motioned for the guards to free the tied Amazon sentries and motioned for the Priestess and Seeress to move closer.

"What do you see?" She demanded. She wasn't looking at them, however. Her eyes were focused on Buddy.

"Four of the mighty ones go to fight the Corruption." The Seeress repeated. "This one sends a portion of his army to their aid, knowing they well not reach them in time!"

"This is true?" Hippolyota demanded. Buddy nodded sharply, his eyes narrowed as he studied the Priestess and Seeress. Hippolyota regarded him for a moment. Then…"You said four of the Mighty Ones. You have told us that there were eight. Where are the others?"

"The master of the Woods remains in his Tower." The Seeress intoned. "The Twins that are not…." The Seeress stopped, her eyes flying wide as she looked at Buddy. "The Twins that are not Twins wait within your Council Room, your Majesty."

"The two young soldiers." Hippolyota nodded. Now she felt she knew the reason for Buddy's seeming calmness. "You command the Mighty Ones, then?" She asked Buddy.

"Not hardly." Buddy shook his head. "Their mother placed them with me. In essence to keep them out of trouble."

"What would they do if they knew where she and the others headed? One of the councilors demanded.

"They would try to go help." It was Rita that answered. "They are a bit head strong and they would probably hurt any one or anything that stood in their way."

"Headstrong youth. I have some experience with that." Hippolyota smiled thinly at a blushing Donna.

"Betsy, I want you and…the twins…to head back to the jeep." Buddy ordered his radio operator. It was time, he knew, to get things back on track. "Get on the horn with Base Camp One. Let them know what is going down. We're going to take a page from my father's book on this one. I want every Rebel armed and in uniform and I want it known that this is it. From this point on, until this nation is back on its feet, you are either with us or against us. No middle ground."

"You got it, Boss." Betsy poked her head back in through the door and motioned for the twins. Then, under the suspicious eyes of the amazons, the trio began jogging towards the outskirts of the town.

Buddy watched her go, still stroking the griffin. He then turned his attention back to the Queen of the Amazons, ignoring the other Amazons gathered around or the tense Rita at his back.

"Your majesty, I'm a soldier, not a diplomat, so you will forgive me if I seem a bit blunt." He told her. "You heard my orders. That goes for you and your people as well. Frankly, we have a problem and we can't afford to leave an enemy at our backs while we try to face it. You are either with us or against. And if you chose to be against us, then we will do what ever we have to do to neutralize you as a threat."

He stood straight, his deep, piercing eyes locked with those of the Queen. Around them, Amazons bristled, anger clear in their faces at this effrontery.

It was a moment frozen in time as the Hippolyota regarded the man before her. Here, she knew, was her equal. Here was a man that could be her best ally or worst enemy. And the future hung on her decision. Finally she simply nodded and then motioned towards the interior of the Courthouse.

"I believe we have things to discuss." Was her only reply.

_**Due to size, this Chapter has been split in two…Chapter 5 will be ready shortly….**_


	7. Chapter 5

_**The Battle Begins**_

Chapter 5

"Stop! STOP!"

Sean McComnal (pronounced McCooal) stomped on the brake, gripping the steering wheel as he fought to keep the Winnebago on the rough, pitted back road. At the same time, he was looking around wildly, trying to discover why his partner, Arthur Rendrix the 3rd, had yelled out the command.

Once the oversized vehicle was stopped and no danger had jumped out at them, Sean turned a disgusted look to the passenger seat.

"Oh that's just great." He drawled, seeing the glazed, vacant look on the dark haired young man's face. "Scare the crap outta me and then you decided to have an out of body experience. Damn."

He pulled himself out from behind the steering wheel and made his way into the back of the motor home. It had been awhile since they had stopped last for something to eat. He opened the small refrigerator, looking through its meager contents with reluctance. It had been awhile since they had stopped to hunt and it was beginning to get on his nerves. It was strange. He had always like to hunt, but since the…change…hunting had become something he _had_ to do. Going to long with out getting out in the woods would start wearing on his nerves and he had about reached his limit.

Of course, his little adventure a few days ago, taking out those guards of the hellish army they were still trying to get around, had helped.

Arthur might make snide comments about his over abundance of testosterone, yet even he knew that the hunt was a part of his being…a part of all those that called themselves Garou. Even the city dwelling Glass-Walkers (of which there were very few left on the North American Continent) and Bone-Gnawers.

It was true, however, that Sean had more of a problem with it than most Garou. Sean had the dubious honor of being one of those few Garou that could honestly claim to be a part of two separate tribes – The Native American Garou called the Wendigo, and the Celtic Garou – the Fianna!

This double dose of heritage gave Sean a tendency to jump in to a brawl gleefully…without a second thought. Somewhere along the way, when the natural Fight or Flight tendency was instilled…some one forgot the Flight part.

And that is where Arthur came in.

Since the time of the Roman invasion of the Celtic islands, there had always been a Rendrix…and as the times required, the Rendrix was always matched up with a McComnal.

Wielding a type of magic that defied classification, the Rendrix males and their McComnal companions would battle the Corrupter…the Wyrm…where ever and whenever it or its minions were found!

Sighing, Sean reached in to grab a portion of the cooked deer haunch, trying with little success to squelch the desire to get out and run down some fresh meat.

As he straightened and allowed the refrigerator to close, Sean froze, the hackles on the back of his neck rising. Though there was no apparent change outside the Winnebago, Sean felt as if a deep, dark shadow had risen from the north to block out the warmth of the sun.

"Oh shit." He whispered, the deer meat falling from his hands…

"Arthur, where the hell are you?"

Sean glared at the motionless body of his friend, the dropped deer meat forgotten as he struggled to maintain control.

When the…wave…of evil had washed over the area, it had taken all his willpower (not one of his strong points when it came to fighting or the ladies) to remain in his Homid, or Human, form.

Sean was one of those almost mythical race of beings called Werewolves by the ignorant and Garou amongst themselves and the enlightened.

For the first seventeen years of his life, Sean had never known that he was anything other than human. Then the changes began. Starting first with bursts of raging temper at the slightest provocation. In a small community run by a group of bullyboys, this had not been a good thing.

He remembered clearly the day some of the local Warlord's toughs had decided to make an example of this loud-mouthed, obnoxious kid. Though they had obviously expected him to put up some fight, he was, after all, a good six foot two, and all muscle; they had clearly not expected what had happened.

After being beat on for what, to him, seemed like an eternity, he had snapped, his anger raging out of control.

Growling like an animal, he had grabbed the next arm to come within reach and yanked. He didn't simply yank the arm's owner around; he yanked the arm completely off! He had then started using the arm like a club, ignoring the screams of pain from the arm's owner as he methodically beat the others to death with the torn limb.

As it was, he would have died that day as one of the toughs raised an old Thompson machine-gun had it not been for Arthur.

The two boys had become inseparable friends a year or so earlier, neither well liked by the powers that be and both usually up to their armpits in trouble. Arthur, however, had always been, to understate the matter, a little more subtle than Sean in his activities, preferring to use his mind and mystical abilities from a distance rather than involving himself in a brawl.

Not that he couldn't, of course. That had been seen later when Sean, now permanently linked to Arthur mentally, lay dying of gunshot wounds. Arthur had raged, bringing an entire village down in ruins, his form shifting and blending into a giant, black panther.

If either had one great weakness, it was their strongest asset…their mental link. Both knew that, should something happen to the other, they could easily fall into a rage from which death would be the only escape.

All these things flashed through Sean's mind as he struggled to maintain his Homid form.

Just as he was beginning to think he could hold it, he felt the faint traces of a mental touch, as if some one, or something, were trying to find him.

Instantly, he attempted to raise the mental shields Arthur had spent many long hours trying to teach him. It seemed as if that action alone was enough to guide the seeking mind to his.

Sean cringed as he felt his shields swept aside as if they were nothing.

"_I've no time for games, boy_." The harsh thought intruded into his mind. "_And neither do you! You have got to get moving and moving now. You have to get out of there or you are going to die!_"

Sean tried to pull his thoughts together. Though he was no novice at mental communications, his experience had largely been confined to communicating with Arthur and Alpha (the enchanted, possessed some might say, bowie knife he wore tucked into the top of his boot on the outside of his right leg).

"_Who_…" he began, somewhat clumsily. He felt the thoughts picked from his mind before he could even formulate them clearly.

"_No time for a length discussion, boy._" Came the return thought. "_Get moving…now! You have to reach the woods, quickly!_"

The mind withdrew as suddenly as it had intruded, leaving Sean grasping at shadows.

"_I can't!_" He sent to the ether, his eyes fastening on the motionless form of his companion. "_I can't move Arthur's body while he is gone!_"

"Stop! STOP!" Arthur shouted the command and then vacated his body. Sean would not be happy, and through their link he could already feel the irritation building. He shut out the distraction as he concentrated on what he had to do.

He had felt something as they traveled and the need to discover what it was he was sensing had finally proven to be more than he could resist.

His astral form, connected to his body via a thin silvery line, soared up and to the north, towards the army they had been trying to flank.

He had not shared the uneasiness he had felt building for the last few days with Sean. Knowing his impulsive companion, just a whiff of what Arthur feared was the case would have been enough to send him on the warpath…a path he was not ready to take…not against this kind of foe.

The massive army had halted its movement, vehicles and armor of all types strung out for miles. As his astral form neared the head of the column, the unease he felt began to grow. This column had not stopped for a rest…they were setting up for a fight!

Soldiers spread out on either side of the road they traveled, their eyes raising again and again to the sky, searching for something they obviously expected to be coming from the east, their weapons ready.

In the center of the road, standing in front of the lead vehicles, a small group of individuals stood, power radiating from their auras.

"Metas." Arthur identified them, his eyes narrowing. He had long ago discovered his ability to 'feel' those persons and animals that had been touched with the power of The Artifact. Though it was not a gift he had been born with, his close association with Sean had allowed him to eventually sense the taint of corruption, the pure evil the Garou called the Wyrm. At the same time, he had learned to sense those touched by the Artifact!

Arthur concentrated on the Metas, sensing that he was seeing something new…these were not just two bit punks with a little power! These were cold-blooded killers, each holding more power than either he or Sean had ever seen before.

While the soldiers appeared nervous, these Metas appeared almost gleeful, not concerned in the slightest with what ever had caused them to call a halt to the movement of the army. Indeed, they seemed almost impatient.

If these people were who he feared they were, Arthur knew there was a chance they would be able to detect his astral form and even harm him while in this state. Yet he knew he had to get closer and check things out. He felt…no, he _knew_ that these were not the sole reason of his concern. There was something else here and he had to find out what it was.

Thought was action and like a camera zooming in for a close up, Arthur's astral form zoomed in closer. Almost too close.

One of the Metas looked up and in his general direction, as if he could see Arthur's astral form and Arthur felt a wave of evil spring forth and he knew that this particular Meta was the one that he had sensed…. for this Meta was no ordinary Human touched by The Artifact! This was nothing less than a Black Spiral Dancer! One of those tribes of Garou given entirely over to the evil corruption of the Wyrm. Arthur shook his head as the implications sank in. A Garou, already impressive with his or her natural abilities, would be awesome if enhanced by The Artifact, as well. And Arthur knew that this was exactly what he was seeing here!

The Black Spiral gestured in his direction and Arthur gasped as a hole materialized, a rip in the fabric of time and space. An opening into…Hell! He began to retreat even as a wave of…filth…washed forth from the opening. That wave would, he knew, be felt by every Garou for a hundred miles or more, and would be felt by every psionic or mystic in the world.

He shielded himself as best as possible as the wave overcame him and passed him by, gagging at the astral stench.

He paused, torn by the desire to be gone and the need to learn more. His dilemma was answered for him when, though via link, he felt the intrusion of another mind in Sean's!

That other mind, he knew, was aware of him even as it gave its commands to Sean. Indeed, it seemed as if it were talking as much to him as it was to Sean.

He allowed himself to slide back into his body even as Sean sent out his feeble complaint.

"I'm back!" He gasped as physical awareness returned. "Do what he says. Move. We've got big problems."

Sean didn't question further. He jumped into the drivers seat, cranked the engine, and headed, out, traveling as fast as the deteriorated road way would allow!

Ian opened his eyes, shaking his head. He would have to learn more about these…Garou, but now was not the time. He had done what he could to warn the youths traveling towards his woods, now he had to see to his own preparations.

He had felt the rift even as it opened and had felt the wash of evil that had poured forth. It was something new, at least. In all his years traveling from Shadow world to Shadow world, he had felt nothing like it. Ian knew evil, but this…this was all that evil concentrated into one small package. Pure and undiluted.

"Gerald," Ian gave a few last minute instructions before he headed out. "Contact who ever is in charge of the…Rebels, I believe they call themselves…and the Amazons. Let them know they have nothing to fear if they traverse the woods…so long as they watch their step and don't go for each other's throats."

"Oh lovely." The butler rolled his eyes. "Shall I offer them tea and biscuits while I am at it?"

"I'm sure they would appreciate it." Ian shot back, not missing a beat. He didn't drag it out, however, turning serious once again. "I'm gone. Take care of things until I get back." And with that he simply disappeared, teleporting out of the tower.

With Ian gone, Gerald's haughty composure crumbled, worry lining his face.

"Take care, master." He whispered. He then turned, leaving the Master's Study as he hurried to do Ian's bidding.

"I don't like this." Rogue confided to Jenny as the quartet moved east. She and Jennifer Walters were flying slightly behind and below Kara and Lar as they passed over the wooded area. Despite their quick take off from the Rebel camp, they were not rushing blindly into this. They had slowed their progress, giving themselves time to react to anything that might be thrown in their path. So far, nothing had happened. That, Rogue felt, was soon to end.

Jenny's only response was a tight lipped nod, her face contorted with pain. Rogue, looking around and below, didn't notice.

"I see them!" Rogue's attention was brought to the front as Kara's shouted warning drifted back. So far, she could see nothing but trees and more trees. Then she realized that Kara must have been using her telescopic and x-ray vision together to allow her to scope out what lay ahead. She did the same herself and grimaced as the halted military column snapped into view.

"They're waiting for us!" She called out the warning. "Kara, I think we are close enough."

"We have to stop them here and now!" Lar spoke up before Kara could answer. He shot forward, pouring on the speed. With a curse, Kara sped after him, Rogue and Jenny right behind.

"Lar, Stop!" Kara called out, her shout filled with both anger and worry. 'We don't know what they've got waiting for us!"

Aware that Jenny was right beside her, Rogue bit her tongue, biting back the harsh words that sprang to mind as Lar doubled his speed, forcing the others to do likewise to keep up.

"Soldiers on the sides of the roads," She called out, sweeping the area with her vision. "I would imagine that group in the road are metas waiting for us."

Lar never paused, streaking straight in as if to land right in the middle of the group of metas.

So caught up were the others in the actions of their erratic companion, no one noticed the dish shaped arrays on some of the vehicles that spun to face them.

"Time to play, you pricks!" Lar yelled; as he slammed feet first into the group of metas, bowling several head over heal.

More cautious, the others landed a distance away and started closing on the ground they did not see anything they couldn't handle. Except…

Lar gaped as one of the Metas able to maintain his feet jumped forward with a blood-curdling howl! This was no normal human with some small bit of Shard induced power! Standing a full 8 feet, the figure leaping at Lar was a horrid mixture of wolf and man; it's gaping jaws dripping with thick, rabid like foam. One huge paw/hand swung out and down, the glistening claws raking across Lar's face, blood following the deadly claws in an arc as they continued their swing.

Pain! As the blow sent him flying backwards, Lar gripped his torn face, blinding pain shooting inward from his left eye. So intense was the agony, he had no knowledge of hitting the ground several hundred feet away and curling into a fetal position.

Stunned by the ferocity of the attack and its results, Kara, Rogue, and Jenny halted their progress, sizing up the situation. They didn't have much time, however, as the creature leapt forward and, in three bounds, was within striking distance of Kara.

Once again the paw/hand reared back and swung forward. This time, however, the result was far different. Surprise registered in the thing's eyes as it felt it's arm grabbed in mid swing, then, with a howl of astonishment, it found itself flying back through the air towards the group of metas just beginning to get to their feet.

"Zal teach you that?" Rogue asked, though she never took her eyes off the group of metas.

"Please." Kara shook her head slightly. "Zal may be a master of Koh-Re, but I'm not exactly a beginner." She risked a glance to her side. 'And neither are you. That's something else you absorbed from me."

"If you two would-be Bruce Lees don't mind." Jenny managed to gasp. She was holding one hand to her lower abdomen, the other gesturing towards the group of metas.

None were making moves towards them and the strange werewolf like creature was keeping his distance, eyeing them warily.

Rogue turned to look at Jenny …and all hell broke loose!

Kara felt herself bowled over as machine guns began to rattle and the metas unleashed blast after blasts of different forms of energy in their direction.

Dazed, Kara looked up…to see Krypto standing on her, holding her down, A look of pleading in his eyes as he alternated between growling at the advancing metas and whining at her.

From her position, she could see tremendous green flashes as Jenny unleashed bolt after bolt of Lantern Energy, She could hear the screams of pain and the thudding of flesh on flesh as Rogue waded into the enemy.

"Rogue! NO!" Jenny's scream brought Kara up, Krypto leaping away to avoid being tumbled to the ground.

For an instant it seemed as if all were still. Kara could see Rogue, her face a mask of bewilderment and her back a mass of blood and torn flesh as she turned, the bright red stitching of bullet holes dotting her upper body. She seemed to hang there for a moment, her eyes pleading for an explanation…and then…she crumpled to the asphalt.

A second scream caused Kara to whirl. Jenny was buckling, her hands clutching her stomach as she fell forward to lie in a fetal position. Kara felt the rage boiling and, turning, she slammed into the group of metas, blood and body parts splattering as she swung her fists and arms. It was sheer luck, nothing more, that allowed Kara to move through the metas, without getting hit by the whizzing, tumbling hail of lead that flashed past her, often times to strike one of the enemy's own.

Yet even as the last of the pitiful metas fell before her, her luck ran out as a bullet creased her head, knocking her back to the ground, senseless.

It was only then that Lar, exerting every ounce of willpower in his being, finally made his way to his feet, blood still streaming from his face and the now empty socket of his left eye. His companions and wife were down. Rogue dead or dying, Jenny huddled uselessly in the center of the ruined road, clutching her abdomen, Kara stirring feebly on the ground, blood flowing from the near miss, spilling down over her face.

He had gotten cocky. He had started to believe there was nothing in this world that could really hurt him, despite all the evidence to the contrary that had been thrust into his face over the past months.

On either side of the road, the gunfire intensified as the soldiers attempting to bring down the last of the heroes, their elation at bringing down, from their point of view, three making them reckless. They did not understand how this final person could stand up under the onslaught of the kryptonite-coated ammunition. They had no knowledge of the differences between a Daxamite and a Kryptonian.

Before Lar could react, the gunfire ceased. Replaced almost instantly with screams of pain and terror as twin beams of red, similar to the beams of heat vision that shot from his own eyes, played along both sides of the road. The beams had come from the air yet, as he turned his one good eye upward, he saw nothing.

He risked a glance behind him to see that, who ever it was that had started frying the soldiers, they had not arrived alone. Though he had no trust for the man, he was grateful to see Ian bending over the figure of his wife.

"We have to get them out of here!" Ian called out. His eyes narrowed as he studied the wolfman…the only meta to remain standing. His mind brought up images of the assassin that had the audacity to seek him out in his own woods.

He turned his attention to the white animal that slid up next to him. Krypto, a bright shiny silver collar adorning his thick, muscled neck pushed his nose at the moaning figure of Jenny. He stopped and locked eyes with Ian.

"_Go_." Ian commanded. "_Your pack will need you, too_." He saw the animal's eyes dart to Kara. "_I will see to her_." Ian assured his newest Guardian. "_Now go, you can do nothing more here!_" Krypto hesitated briefly and then was gone, his super speed allowing him to move so fast it would seem he simply vanished.

Ian turned his attention back to the…Skin dancer the nymphs had called the one that invaded the forest. For a long moment their gazes locked and then, with a nod to show it understood this war was not over, the Skin Dancer sped back through the column of vehicles, away from the site of the battle.

"Lar, see to your wife, I'll see to Kara!" Ian ordered as he bent over the blonde Kryptonian.

Kara, regaining conscious, tried to wave him away.

"I'm fine." Her voice sounded weak even to her own ears. She shook her head and then winced at the waves of pain that action caused. She finally gained her feet, with the aid of Ian, and looked around. "What about Rogue?" She demanded.

"She right over…." Ian stopped in mid sentence and gesture. Only a pool of bright red blood remained at the spot where Rogue had fallen. He frowned and then pulled Kara closer to him. "We'll find her." He said. "But first we have to get you three out of here and back to where we can get you medical attention. Both Lar and Jenny are still loosing blood and you probably have a concussion."

Ian pulled Kara with him as he moved to where Lar knelt by the motionless figure of Jennifer Walters. He paused as the sound of distant gunfire reached his ears. The Rebels had finally arrived and were hitting the Lex Corps troops along their right flank. No wonder the Skin Dancer had decided to retreat.

"Come on." He whispered to the semi-conscious Kara. "This battle is now between the soldiers. Let them do their job." He guided her closer to Lar and Jenny. "Give me one of your hands and put your other on your wife." He ordered the Daxamite. "Hurry, damnit!" he barked as Lar hesitated. "Any minute now these soldiers are going to realize they've won and start firing again!"

Lar reached down and grasped one of Jenny's hands and then reached out with his other, allowing Ian to grasp it.

There was a brief instant of…nothingness and then Lar found himself kneeling in the middle of the Rebel camp, medical people racing out of one of the tents towards them.

The XO of the rebels watched with amused amazement as the jeep came sailing over the tree tops, two blond youngsters in Rebel tiger stripe cammies holding it between them as they flew.

"Don't do that again!" Betsy, Gen. Raines personal driver was white faced, her hands gripping the steering wheel as the teens gently lowered the vehicle to the ground.

"Well, the General did say ASAP, didn't he?" one of the pair that was quickly becoming known as The Twins, Carrie and Karen or, as they had named themselves, Supergirl and Powergirl, respectively, popped off. From what he had seen on the file The Rebel Intelligence had put together, The XO had to assume that the speaker was Carrie, the more brash of the two…barely. Of course identification would be easier if they were in the costumes they had taken for themselves rather than the cammies they had been issued when their mother, Kara, whom people were beginning to call Superwoman, had assigned them to Buddy.

"The General said get on the horn and contact Base Camp One." Betsy snapped. "he did not say FLY to our Camp!"

"There's a difference?" one of the twins cocked her head, clearly bewildered by the terms.

"This is the camp." The XO explained as he walked up, smiling at Betsy's distress. "Base Camp One is the Main Rebel base up north." His tone grew serious. "we got the call from Capt. Dianne, relaying Buddy's orders. 1st Brigade has already moved out." He shook his head. "There is no way they are going to reach them in time.!"

They had moved out in mass, their vehicles left behind, each man and woman carrying all the weapons and ammo he or she could handle and still move at a reasonable pace.

There had been a slight pause as they neared the edge of the woods.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" a Company commander asked another. The other simple shrugged.

"General Raines said do it…You want to argue the point with him?"

"Not me!" The first shook his head and waved his command forward, leading the way.

There was no gradual thickening of trees. The forest line began and ended with a sudden sharpness that seemed some how unnatural. Taking a deep breath, the Company commander stepped forward into the woods and, with his next step, found himself on the inside of a forestline looking out…at a columm on enemy soldiers. Some how, someway, the entire brigade had been shunted through the forest and now they stood, amazed. Their amazement did not last long.

"My GOD!" some one shouted out. "That's Superwoman out there…and she's getting creamed!"

"No she's not," some one else responded. "She's taking out the metas….Let's take out those soldiers!"

And that quickly they were trained professionals again.

"Lay some heat on the center of the column!" the command went out. "You people with bloop tubes las some grenades in there while the mortars are being set up. C'mon people…it's time to rock and roll!"

And the Rebels began to rain death and destruction…rebel style…down on the army of Lex Luthor!

Col. James Masterson was nothing if not a professional. A mercenary before the world went to hell, he had fought all over the world, not caring what he was fighting for, so long as the pay was good and there was a better than even chance that he would get out alive. Since the collapse of civilization, he had never lacked for job opportunity. Hiring out to this or that warlord, fighting battle after battle with poorly armed citizens, running them down like a steamroller, taking his pick of the spoils, usually young girls which he would often use, abuse, and discard when he tired of them.

And then, along came Lex Luthor. Luthor had promised him steady employment. Had promised him all the young girls he could ever want, allowing him to endulge in perversive pleasures that, before the break down of law and order, would have landed him in jail and had him labeled for life as a pedophile. Luthor had promised him power and, eventually, a command of his own. Except for the latter, Luthor had kept his promises. And James knew that promotion would come eventually.

He only wish it had come before this. He had known that the General was making a huge blunder, keeping the entire column together as they moved toward the enemy. He had known that it was wrong to be over confident, so sure that the new bullets and the few metas with the divisioin would be enough to win any battles they might run into.

Some where, the General had gotten the idea that these so-called Rebels were wannabes. Farmers and country boys playing soldier. James had kept his mouth shut. In the Lex Corps, junior officers did not further their careers by questioning the orders of their superiors. Yet all he had been able to learn about these Rebels told him the General was dead wrong. And now, it looked like he would soon be just dead!

When the first sounds of gunfire off the right flank reached his ears, Col. Masterson had realized the jig was up. If the Rebels had any kind of sizable force coming at them from the side, they would chew his troops up and spit them out. It didn't help that a good majority of those troops were not professioinal soldiers. They were cannon fodder. Thugs and two bit bully boys that got their rocks off by sticking the muzzle of a gun into the face of defensless citizen and pulling the trigger.

And, thanks to the laws in effect at the time of the collapse, they were able to do that as often as they pleased. In a society of de-balled, civilized sheep, a society where it was considered the most hedious of evils to pick up a big bad gun and protect your own life, possessions, and neighbors, these sub-human apes were wolves.

"Well, if we are the wolves, then the damned sheep dogs just showed up.!' He winced and crouched lower iin the seat of his jeep as bullets began zipping by. A grunt to his left drew his attention and he turned as his driver slumped backwards, his head lolling to the left. James stifled a gag reflex when he saw that the entire left side of the drivers face was missing,

With a curse, james shoved the body out of the jeep and moved behind the wheel. The rebels were tearing the hell out of them and not one had come in site yet. He turned and looked around, catching the eye of his second in command and waved him over.

"Get our Company together, we are getting out of here." He snarled. The officer nodded his understanding. he had been with james a long time and knew that his Col had disagreed with every move the Brigade commander had made over the past few months. He moved out to follow his orders, gathering together the Men james had hand picked over the years to build his own company. These men would do what ever the Col asked of them and did it right. They, like him, were professionals!.

James, for his part, threw the jeep in gear and roared up the column to where the Commanders Car was parked, boxed between tow huge armored vehicles.

"Col. Masterson, what the hell is going on?" The general, his face white with panic, yelled as he spotted the junior officer crawling from his jeep, keeping his head low and presenting as little as possible a target.

"We're under attack, you dipshit!" James snarled as he got closer.

"What?" the Genreals eyes bugged at the insult and his face twisted in rage. "I'll have you shot..I'll.."

"Die." James finished as he pulled his forty-five. He lifted the weapon quickly and squeezed off a single round. The General's head jerked backward as the bullet struck his forehead. And then just as quickly forward as the back of his head exploded outward. James turned to the other men standing around. "You idiots can sit here and die if you want. I am pulling my men out and heading back north!"

"We can beat these riff raff!" One of the dead generals flunkies wailed.

"You stupid shit!." James holstered the .45 and yanked the flunky towards the edge of the column. "Look out there, you idiot!' he snarled. "What are you going to beat? Those Rebels are out there tearing the hell out of us and we haven't even seen one of them yet. It's a wonder they haven't….shit…GRENADE!" he threw himself down, accidentally knocking the flunky down as well as the 40mm round sailed up and over, landing square on top of the command car!

The car blew and bits and pieces of flaming metal and bloody body parts flew in all directions!

His ears ringing and the hair singed form his arms and the back of his neck, James scrambled to his feet, remembering his training and keeping low as he scrabbled over to the flunky.

"Listen you little pencil dick, you get your ass moving and you get to the other commanders. Let them know that I am pulling my people out and if they want to live they'll follow! Got that?"

The flunky nodded and moved out, keeping enough presence of mind to keep his head low. James watched him move out and then moved back to where his own people were getting ready to pull out.

"Some are pulling out!"

"Let them go. We don't have our vehicles here and no way to follow. Besides, maybe they'll start spreading the word..Don't mess with the Rebels!" There was a smattering of grim laughter and then the fire intensified as each and every Rebel tried his best to insure that few and fewer enemy soldiers escaped the death trap they had created.

"I have to go back." Kara was protesting as one medic pushed her to the ground and began examining the bloody crease on her scalp. "I have to find Rogue."

"We couldn't do anything for her." The medic told her as he cleansed the damaged area.

"What did you say?" Kara reached up and grabbed the medic's wrist, pulling him around so she could see his face. Ian stood ready to intervene when he noticed the wince of pain in the medic's face. "What do you mean you couldn't help her?"

"She was brought to us by a woman in a green cloak." The medic told her. "She was still alive, but none of our instruments could cut through her skin. We couldn't operate to remove the bullets. Those that hadn't passed completely through, that is."

"Where is she?" Kara demanded, surging to her feet. "Damnit answer me. Where is she?"

"She's gone." The medic told her. "When we told the woman in green that we couldn't do anything for her, she pushed us out of the way, gathered Rogue in her arms and flew off."

While Kara was dealing with the medic, two pairs of medics were seeing to Lar and Jenny.

"He's losing a lot of blood." One spoke to Ian as he examined Lar's ravaged face. "And just like the other one, we can't do anything about it!"

Seeing that Kara was not about to tear her medic's head off, Ian stepped over to the other medics and, to all appearances, simply stared at the instruments for a long moment.

"You're instruments will work now." He told the skeptical medics. 'Guard them well, those are the only one you will have that will be able to be used to help these people."

"How's Jenny?" Lar demanded as the medics began swabbing away the blood from the gashes on his face.

"She'll be fine." He was assured. That wasn't enough for the worried Daxamite.

"What the hell happened?" He demanded. The two medics working with Jenny whispered together and then one turned towards him.

"I'm afraid she has suffered a miscarriage." He blurted out the truth.

Lar felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him as he fell backward. A miscarriage!

"I didn't even know she was pregnant!" He whispered. "What…what caused it?"

"Who knows, at this point?" The medic shrugged. "It will take some time and better facilities than we have…."

"Lead poisoning." Ian broke in, looking straight at Lar, his eyes hard. "The baby was exposed to lead and it did not share your immunity!"

Lar closed his one good eye.

"Ohmygod. What have I done?"

"You have gotten some good people hurt, possibly killed." Ian snapped his mouth shut, willing himself to silence. However he might feel about the Daxamite's actions, it was not his place to reprimand him…that was solely Kara's prerogative.

He turned and sighed as he noticed Kara pushing the medic away from her.

"And where do you think you are going?" He demanded.

"I've got to find Rogue!"

"You don't have time!" Ian told her. "Remember that we have an army on the other side of that forest? And where, pray tell, are your girls?"

Before Kara could answer, it was answered for her as twin streaks zapped across the Rebel camp to clamp onto Kara. Both Karen and Carrie almost crying in their need to assure themselves Kara was okay.

Ian stepped away and looked to the sky. Soon the twins would know what had happened. And then they would want to take off after Rogue. They would, he knew, tear the entire globe apart if that is what it took to find her.

Though he had an idea of what had happened to the mutant-turned-Kryptonian, Ian kept his thoughts to himself. This fragile world was not ready for that kind of confrontation. Not yet, at any rate.

He straightened his shoulders and looked back towards his woods. The battle had begun…of that there was no doubt. What was in question was who would win the war?

The sides were drawn, for the most part. There were those aligned with Lex and those aligned with Kara. And for good or ill, Ian had thrown his lot in with Kara.

Thought they may not battle together often, they would each fight this war in their own ways. Each doing what they could to restore some semblance of freedom and civilization back to this blasted planet.

Leaving Kara to her daughters and Lar and Jenny with the medics, Ian teleported himself back to his tower. He had to get ready for the visitors moving towards his tower in an old, beat up Winnebago.

Col. James masterson sighed heavily and placed the mic back in it's holder.

Behind them, the sound of gunfire was dwindling as the Rebels began mopping up.

He had escaped the death trap with his own company and fractions of three others. But with very little in the way of equipment, or supplies.

He had dreaded reporting in and then been thouroughly shocked when he found himself receiving his orders directly from Lex Luthor himself.

He was to take command of the survivors and make his way north and East to Metropolis where he would be placed in command and allowed to reform the brigade to his specifications.

He stepped out of the Jeep and looked back at the smoke rising into the air from the battle site, close to four miles away now.

"You're good." He whispered, clenching a fist. "But not good enough. I'm going to crush you, Raines. Count on it." He was silent for a moment and then as if drug out of him by sheer force, he grated the words many others in another universe had shouted, whimpered, snarled or hissed towards Buddy's father. "God I hate that damned Raines!"

_**End of **__**The Battle Begins**_!


	8. Chapter 6

_**The Battle Begins**_

**Chapter 6**

**The Aftermath**

(Author's note: This chapter takes place after Jason Gasper's _**Exorcism**_ and the upcoming Twins story Number 3)

The opening shots were weeks in the past.

Buddy propped his elbows on his desk and rested his face in his hands.

After the appearance of the self styled 'Lord Doom' and Superwoman's abrupt departure (_**Author's note: See Jason Gasper's new Story: Exorcism**_), he had ordered camp broke and had the Rebels on the road back to Base Camp in Bolger Texas. No one was surprised when Queen Hippolyota and a majority of Her amazons had decided to travel with him. How the Amazons communicated over long distances was still a mystery to the rebels, yet the Queen had informed Buddy that her people on the Island had been informed that, perhaps, it was time for the warrior women to rejoin the rest of the world. Those that wished, could remain on the Island and those warriors that wished could return there. For herself and those that chose to follow her, it was time to help rebuild a new world….a world where equality among the races and sexes was the reality, not just an empty phrase spoken by mush mouthed politicians.

All in all, the trip home had been uneventful, with the exception of that compound just outside of Wacco.

Buddy new his history and new that, in his world, that compound had been the home of a group of religious nuts that had fun afoul of the then government. In that case, Buddy had sided with the nuts, knowing that the US government had had no business messing with them in the first place. But then, when had the Federal government of the US ever practiced restraint when it came to sticking their collective noses into places they didn't belong?

The group that inhabited the compound in this, Otherverse, reality bore very little resemblance to Religious group in his home reality. In fact, all signs pointed to the fact that the current inhabitants had taken the compound by force, virtually walking in and taking over at the point of a gun.

His advance scouts had tagged the place for later examination as they sped by on their way south to meet the forces of Lex Luthor, now, as they returned at a more leisurely pace, they took the time to give it a close look. What they found had them radioing in to Buddy with disgust.

Buddy had ordered that the word go out that the Rebels fully intended to reestablish law and order, starting in Texas and the southern states and that warlords, punks, and thugs would have a very short life expectancy. So far, especially in the more rural areas, they had been met with open arms and heart felt thanks…..such was not the case in the Wacco compound.

"That place is filthy, General." Captain Diane had reported, the look on her face showing that her words were, if any thing, an understatement. "There has been no attempt to keep the place up or clean the place out. There are skeletons lying around, indicating that bodies were never removed, simply left to lie and rot. The men and most of the women seem to be well fed, but the kids and some of the women are really under nourished. And General, " she paused and spat, her mouth twisting as if she had just bit into something disgustingly sour, "They have slaves."

"Blacks?" Buddy straightened up in his jeep, his gray eyes glinting like hard steel.

"Some." Diane nodded. "But there are others as well. Orientals, Hispanic, and other minorities. And even some whites."

"Well, General, what are we going to do?" Rita, Buddy's ever present bodyguard spoke up from her seat in the Jeep behind Buddy. "We can't let crap like that go on. "

"No…no, we can't." Buddy thought for a moment and then. "Hop in , Captain." He ordered. Almost before Dianne had settled herself in the back beside Rita, Buddy had thrown the jeep in gear and popped the clutch. In the passenger seat beside him, Betsy shot a hand back to grasp Diane to keep her from falling back out while, at the same time silently praying that a replacement driver would be assigned to the General soon. The previous driver had, unfortunately, been one of the few fatalities in the action against Luthor's forces.

Buddy smiled grimly as he swung the Jeep out of the column and sped away to the west towards the compound. Behind him, he knew, the platoon the Brigade commanders had put together to bird dog him would be scrambling to catch up.

The tip to the compound was a short one and, if Buddy was hoping to ditch the guard platoon, he was sorely disappointed. Even as he pulled off onto the dirt road that led to the Compound entrance, a Bradley APC swung in front of him, the Rebel lounging in the top hatch grinning and waving as the vehicle slowed, forcing Buddy to ease off the gas pedal.

"Damn nursemaids." Buddy grumbled while Betsy, Diane and Rita struggled unsuccessfully to hide their amusement. On Buddy's shoulder, Deet, didn't even try, sqwaking his laughter while mentally chiding Buddy for his foolhardiness. "You keep out of it!' Buddy told the miniature Griffen.

The others didn't even bat an eye, having become used to Buddy's comments to the small beast. Queen Hippolyota did the same thing with the griffen that had adopted her and many were now aware that the little things were intelligent and were able to speak to their adoptive humans mentally!

As the lead vehicle came to a stop before the locked gates of the compound, the rest of the platoon swung in behind Buddy's jeep and a squad of rebels swarmed past, taking up positions before the gates.

"Tell that Bradley to crash it!" Buddy ordered Betsy. He pulled his reworked Thompson from its holster and laid the massive weapon across his lap. As if that were a signal, sounds of weapons being readied came from all around and then were drowned out as the lead Bradely shot forward, smashing through the flimsy chain link gate and continuing on.

"Let's go!" Buddy ordered, putting action to his words and sending his jeep bouncing and racing after the Bradley

"No Guards?" Betsy asked, looking around.

"They're there." Buddy answered before Diane could. "But would you want to start a dance with this kind of fire power facing you down?"

Betsy nodded her understanding but remained silent as they approached the main compound. Already people were swarming out the front door and several men could be seen moving into position on the roofs as the platoon of Rebels brought their vehicles to a halt.

At a look from Rita, Dianne dived from the jeep even before it had stopped moving, yelling for her team and throwing up a protective circle around Buddy.

"…turrent gunners watching the roofs." Betsy was whispering into her mic. "Any one even look froggy you take them out!"

"Blood thirsty little thing, aren't you?" Buddy asked, as he heaved himself from his seat. "Ever think I might just be able to take care of myself?"

"I don't doubt it, General." Betsy answered, giving him her warmest smile. She did not, however, rescind her orders to the crews of the Three Bradley vehicles of Buddy's personal platoon.

Buddy gave her a look but knew when to admit defeat. Instead, he gripped the Thompson by the pistol grip and then swung it up on his shoulder, the barrel pointing to the sky and stepped forward to size up the gang of men that that poured out the front doors of the compounds main building.

Diane had been correct in her report. All the men looked well fed, if extremely dirty. All of them seemed to be wearing some form of cover alls, some held up with strips of rope, all stained and grimy.

And all hefting some kind of weapon…Shotguns being the most numerous.

Buddy stopped before approaching the group and took a long moment to look around, being excruciatingly obvious as he turned slowly around, his eyes taking in the run down condition of the buildings, the weed choked gardens, the open cess pool that had been dug when the plumbing had given out, rusted out vehicles, the malnourished animals that wandered aimlessly, and the complete lack of children and women.

"HEY JU!" One of the men mush mouthed, stepping forward, his beer gut jiggling. "You'uns bes git them thare Ve Hicles offen our lan! We got no beef wit you sojer boys and we doesn't wan you here. Now g'on….git!" he stopped and spit a thick line of tabacco juice and then glared back up at the rebels, ignoring the thin stream of spittle that dribbled down his tangled beard.

Buddy ignored the man, continuing his survey, his eyes growing narrow as he took in the complete squalor.

"HEY!" the fat red neck bellowed, "I'm talking to you, boy!"

"Shoot the next man to open his mouth before I give them permission!" Buddy ordered.

The fat redneck blanched and opened his mouth to protest, his flap closing with an audible snap as several rebels brought their weapons up, their barrels pointing in his direction.

"Betsy, take some people and fan out, go over everything, find what you can, and be quick about it." Buddy ordered. As the radio operator picked out rebels and headed off, Buddy finaly turned his attention to the group of men facing him and his rebels. "Who's in charge of this misbegotten rabel?" he demanded.

"Huh?" the fat red neck was obviously confused. His confusion turned to anger as the noticed some of the rebels fanning out. 'Hey now, you jes git yersefs back on outta here! Ya'll got no rat to go nosing round chere!"

"My, he's the eloquent one, isn't he?" Rita muttered just loud enough for Buddy to hear.

'The epitome of arrested education." Buddy agreed, making no effort to lower his voice.

"Haw?"

"I said you're one dumb son of a bitch." Buddy translated loosely.

"You gonna let'em talk at you 'at way, Jebadiah?" One of the other men called out.

"Yeah, stomp the prettly little sojier boy, Jebadiah!" another called out.

"You are, I take it, Jebadiah?" Buddy walked up to the fat redneck,

"Yeah. I'm Jebadiah Scutterlen, an this here's our land. You got no rat trespassing laik this!"

"What did he say?" Rita muttered. Deet let out an amused squawk and reared up, flapping his wings.

"That's a mighty pretty critter there." Jebadiah eyed the Griffen. "I reckon he'd make mighty fine ettin too!" Deet's amusement turned to indignant anger and Buddy had to hide a smile as the griffen let off a rousing mental stream of cursing….a habit it had, it claimed, gotten from him.

"Well, you jes gonna stand there?" Jebadiah demanded as Buddy continued to remain silent.

"I'm waiting." Buddy told the man.

'Waiting? Waitiing fer what?"

"For my people to report in." Buddy answered honestly. Then he relaxed a bit. "I guess we could talk while we wait. Tell me Jebadiah, how long have you people been here?"

"Nigh on four years, why you want to know 'at for?"

"Four years." Buddy nodded and looked around. "And in that time you have made no effort to clean this place up, no effort to get any gardens going, and no effort to put things back into working order."

"Ain't no need for sich." Jebadiah spat. "Gardens is wimen work. Man 'spossed to hunt and fish and take charge of things."

"I'll show him 'wimen's work'!" Rita growled, grippiing her M-16 and stepping forward,. Stopping only when Buddy put a hand on her shoulder.

"Now you jes take 'er easy there, little girl." Jebadiah, commanded, "Afore I take it into my mind to paddle your bottom for being uppity and all!" his courage was growing as the rebels seemed to stall. If he had bothered to look closer, he would have noticed the knuckles on Buddy's hand grow white as he gripped Rita's shoulder, holding her back.

"What about cleaning things up and getting the equipment back in order?" Buddy demanded, making a huge effort to keep his voice calm. "This place is a pig stye!"

"Cleanin's wimens work." Jebadiah spouted, as if reciting a tried and true mantra. "'Sides, we like it the way it is."

"You have children here, Jebadiah?" Buddy asked.

"Yah." Jebadiah spat again. "Lots of little snot noses running round."

"Why don't you call them out here?" Buddy smiled at the man, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

"Now why would I want to do that, Sojier boy?"

"Because," Buddy began, stepping even closer. "if you don't, I am going to order these fine men and women accompanying me to blow you and your pack of thugs to hell in a matter of seconds!" he didn't seem to signal in any way, yet all the rednecks gathered in front of the Compound were suddenly very much aware that there were a LOT of weapons trained in their direction and the faces behind those weapons were hard and determined.

"Simon, you go tell them wimen to bring them brats out here." Jebadiah ordered, swallowing as he glared into Buddy's eyes. "You're letting yerself in for a world of hurt, sojier boy!"

"I'll live, I'm sure." Buddy drawled. As a steady stream of women, each shooing out several children, began filing out of the main doors, Buddy waved the platoon's med team forward.

"Check out the children first, and then the more undernourished women." He ordered. "I would imagine that the ones that look well fed are every bit as bad as the men."

"Bad?" Jebadiah bellowed, over hearing. "We're god fearing folk, Sojier boy. You got not rat to call us bad!"

"Why are those kids under fed, Jebadiah!" Buddy demanded.

"Games scarce round chere." The redneck muttered, "Men's got to eat more so's we can do the hunting and fishing!"

Looking over the children, Buddy estimated there were close to fifty under the age of 9 and close to twenty between the ages of 10 and 15. Of the latter, the males were casting looks of hatred towards the Rebels and Buddy knew, as his father had discovered, that these kids were lost. Had they the resources of a civilized, intact society, they could probably have been salvaged, but in this day and age, in this war torn nation, there was simply not enough time or man power to do the job. So Buddy reluctantly turned his attention to the females and his eyes narrowed. Several of the girls carried bruises. These he pointed out to the Medical team and demanded they be checked over first.

Even as he gave the order, the sound of approaching vehicles caused every one to turn and several more med vehicles pulled in.

"We called for more people, General." His med officer informed him. "We'll set up " he turned and pointed. " right over there." He turned back to Buddy and shook his head. "It doesn't look good so far, General. They are all mal nourished and several of those we have already checked show signs of both physical and sexual abuse."

Buddy nodded and turned his attention back to Jebadiah, no sign of what he was feeling on his face.

"Well, Jebadiah?" he demanded.

"Well what?" Jeb blustered, "Them there's our brats and we can do wif them what we want!"

"Not any more." Buddy made up his mind. "We are going to relieve you of the burden of caring for these children." Jebadiah thought for a moment and then nodded.

"I sorta reckoned you was one of them there liberal social cry baby types." He sneered. "Well you jes go on and take em…we ken mek more!" he pointed a thick dirty finger in Buddy's face. "But you bes leave them older girls here. They tends our needs when the wimen cain't." he turned and pointed at one of the girls…no older than 14. "Jessy girl, you git yer ass back inna house now. Ya hear me?"

The girl looked around, as if uncertain and then moved hesitantly away from the group, back towards the door.

"Jessy, you stay right there." Buddy called out, locking eyes with Jebadiah. He then stepped back and motioned the senior med officer to him.

"Carl, you were with my Dad. You saw this enough to know what to do." He told the officer. "Cull out the ones that are lost and get the rest out of here. Don't bother setting up, you can do that down the road a bit. Just get these kids back to the column."

"Yes Sir!" the med officer sprinted away, bellowing orders.

Buddy started to turn back to Jebadiah, stopping when he saw Betsy jogging up, her face red with anger, her hands gripping her M-16 in such a way to suggest that she would be more than happy to start shooting.

"What did you find, Betsy?" he demanded as she got closer.

"Slave pens, General." The communication tech answered. From the sound of her voice, Buddy knew that wasn't all of it. He waited. "General, most of the men and women have been sexually molested and tortured. And" She took a deep breath "according to those able to talk, many of them are wondering why they haven't been sent down to Austin yet!"

Buddy stiffened. "What are you talking about?"

"These….filth trade the slaves to the creepies in Austin. For ammo, goods from the stores down there, and protection."

"Protection? Austin is not that close!" Rita exclaimed.

"Since when has that had anything to do with Creepies?" Buddy countered. Of course he knew why this group of Creepie sympathizers had lost contact with the creepies in Austin….Austin was now, truly a dead city. He didn't know what had happened, or who was responsible, but he knew something had killed off many, if not most of the Creepies in the city, sending the rest fleeing to the countryside. Many of those fleeing from the city had been caught by his his roving teams, interrogated and then executed. Rebels did not normally take Creepie prisoners. When they did, they didn't have them for long. He composed himself. "Okay Betsy, get those people out and have them link up with the med units that are pulling out." He waited until Betsy was gone and then turned back to Jebadiah.

"What you been whispering about over there, Sojier boy?" Jebadiah demanded.

"Shut your filthy mouth!" Buddy snarled, sending the butt of his Thompson into the beer gut! The red neck folded over, gagging.

The other men present moved forward menacingly, stopping as the hard eyed rebels trained their weapons on them. In the Bradley's the turret gunners atop the vehicles readied their weapons and began tracking the armed men on the roofs of the surrounding buildings.

"Whut the hale 'd you do that fer?" Jebadiah gasped. He pulled himself up, wiping bile from his lips as he glared at Buddy.

"You've been trading to the Creepies." Buddy informed him. The look of confusion on the man's face, he knew, meant he did not understand what he was talking about. Creepie was a term coined by the Rebels of Buddy's home reality to refer to the cannibalistic humans living beneath the blasted and deserted cities. "You've been trading slaves to the Believers! The cannibals in Austin!"

"We ain't not done no sich thang!" Jebadiah denied. The fear that rose in his eyes told a different story.

"You're lying, you son-of-a-bitch!" Buddy sent the fat red neck sprawling with another stoke of the weapon butt, this time straight into the man's face.

"You gawdamned heathen!" Jebadiah mush mouthed, spitting out several broken teeth.

"You hold slaves, you sexually abuse children, and you sell people to the Creepies, knowing what will happen to them…and I am the heathen. Right!" Buddy left him lying on the ground and walked back to his jeep, waiting for word that the slaves and children were clear of the compound. When it came, he was informed that the older, male children, those that would grow up to be the new generation of ignorant red necks, were being held until Buddy gave the okay to release them. He was also informed that many of the women, usually those that showed signs of under nourishment, had requested to accompany the rebels while the rest were being completely defiant.

"Let them stay with the older children." Buddy had ordered, "We'll release them and point them to the north East…let Lex Luthor and his people deal with them."

"What about this bunch?" Rita asked as Buddy got off the horn.

Buddy looked out over the men and all he saw was sullen, smoldering hatred.

Back at the column, the chief medical officer winced as gunfire ripped through the after noon air, the chugga-chugga sound of Buddy's .45 Thompson standing out from the crack and pops of the M-16s carried by most troops.

Once the Rebels had pulled into base camp, Buddy had ordered the women and older male children from the compound to be escorted to the northern border of Rebel claimed territory and released.

He had also been brought up to date on events that had occurred while he was on the road.

Kara had returned to her fortress with a quickly recovering Rogue, the twins and Hippolyota's ward, Donna Troy, had initialed set out to hunt for Rogue but had ended up in at a small monestary, helping them rebuild after an attack.

Buddy had promptly ordered a team of engineers, and a group of Amazon women unable to come to grips with the modern ways, sent to the Haven of Light monastery to offer assistance. Buddy was under no illusion that Sister Angela, the leader of that small group, would welcome his people with open arms. That was okay, though. He had no problem with the Haven of Light. They were a peaceful people who could and would fight when the need arose, not relying on others to fight their battles for them. Those people he could respect and would do what ever he could to forge good relations with them.

There was still no sign of Lar Gand anywhere. The troubled young meta had disappeared soon after the attack that had cost him his eye, his estranged wife's unborn child, and had nearly cost Rogue her life.

Since then, things had been a bit quiet. Buddy had sent teams west to check out Arizona and New Mexico, a few teams north to scout out Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas. Colorado he would leave alone, knowing that Kara and her people had setup up their fortress there and would take care of any incursions. He had also sent teams to the east and south east to gather information in those states

So now he sat in his Office, frowning down at the pile of paper work that covered his desk.

"Okay, I am not going to do what my dad did and try to handle all of this myself!" He muttered. Looking up he caught Betsy's eyes. "Betsy, get with the other Brigade coms and tell them I want a small Head Quarters brigade formed…..when that is done, send all this shit to them!" Betsy laughed and turned to carry out her orders. As she bent over her radio equipment she stopped and listened.

"There's a jeep coming in, General." They are flying the flag of the United states of America and a white flag…" she paused. "Correction, it is not the US flag, but something similar. The same red white and blue, stars and stripes, but with a big blue L in the center of the stripes."

"Three guess as to what the L stands for and the first two don't count." Buddy sighed. He stood and hefted his trusty Thompson. "Tell the sentries to let them through and have them guided ….." he paused. One thing he did not want to do was give an enemy any advantages…such as knowing the exact location of the Command Center. "Correction, hold them at the north gate, we'll meet them there." He looked over at Rita who was already shrugging into her battle harness. "You ready?"

Rita smiled and nodded. "You betcha, Boss."

Out side the command post, Buddy stopped, smiling as Hippolyota approached. She was dressed in Rebel fashion now, though Buddy could not, for the life of him, recall seeing any rebel woman that could make the tiger strip fatigues look THAT way.

"I hear we have a visitor." She said as she grew closer. The Griffen on her shoulder rising up and squawking a greeting to Deet. Deet, the griffen that had adopted Buddy, rode on his human's shoulder in a similar fashion and now gave a return squawk.

"So I hear myself. I was just going to greet him. Would you like to accompany me?" he held out an arm and Rita suppressed a grin as the queen of the Amazons linked her hand through the arm and settled in to walk beside him. It was no secret that the Queen and the General were seeing a lot of each other and Rita had been secretly amazed at the way the rest of the Amazons suddenly seemed to be behaving around Buddy. As if he were already their king!

When they reached the north gate, a lanky man in olive drab fatigues stepped out of the jeep and waited, the stars gleaming on his collar identifying him as a general.

"General Raines?" the officer began as Buddy approached. The officer saluted and, bemused, Buddy returned the gesture.

"I am afraid you have the advantage of me, General." Buddy commented.

"Hardly." The officer smiled slightly. "I am General Masterson of the new United States Combined Forces.

"Masterson?" Buddy mused. "There was a Colonel Masterson at the battle of Smithville."

"That would have been me." The officer nodded, if he was impressed by Rebel intelligence, he hid it well.

"So, General Masterson, to what do we owe this visit. I can hardly believe it to be a social call."

"You are quite correct, General Raines." Masterson confirmed. He slowly reached into the jeep and removed a small envelope. "I have here a proposal from President Luthor."

"President Luthor?" Buddy raised an eyebrow. "Did some one hold an election while I wasn't looking?"

"Desperate times require desperate measures, General." Masterson countered with a thin smile. "I am sure you understand. With the New United States of America under martial law, it was necessary that a leader be named. For the time being, that will be Luthor. As things settle down, elections will be held."

"I'm sure they will be." Buddy drawled, making no effort to hide the scorn or disbelief in his voice. "And what, exactly, is Luthor's proposal."

"President Luthor." Masterson began, stressing the title. "proposes an end to the conflict between the New US and the Rebels and would like to begin talks to discover the best method for integrating your troops into the Combined Forces."

"Excuse me?" Buddy frowned at Masterson. "Did I understand you correctly? Luthor wants to discuss how to do what?"

"President Luthor is well aware of the abilities of the Rebels and acknowledges the good you have done here in the short time you have been here. But now that there is a legal US government…"

Buddy cut him off.

"Forget it." He pointed a finger at Masterson. "We don't recognize Luthor as a legitimate President, not that it would matter if he were. From this time on, these southern states are no longer part of the US. They are. " he paused and smiled, remembering what his father had called his old nation. "the Southern United States. Elections will be held soon to determine our President."

"Reviving the old Confederate States, General?" Masterson grinned. "Really."

"No, General. Not the Confederate states. The SUSA, Southern United States since these just happen to be southern States. No more no less."

Masterson thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay," he said. "In the event that you refused to rejoin with the New US, I have been instructed to offer a cease fire proposal and to set borders."

"You know what the borders are." Buddy nodded. "and there will be a cease fire so long as your goons stay to the north and east of them."

"Also what about the extreme Western States? You know, of course, that we do have an outpost in Washington!"

"Then I suggest you contact them and have them pull out." Buddy demanded. "We have nothing there and don't plan on expanding any further west than Colorado at this time, but we will not allow fly over of our territory by your forces." He paused. "Also, while we have had little contact with those In Utah, we would consider it extremely unwise of you to interfere with them. We would be forced to ally ourselves with them against you. The same goes for the New Navajo Nation."

"You don't believe much in subtlety, do you?" Mastersaon mused.

"Depends on the situation." Buddy grinned. "In this case, I want there to be no misunderstanding."

"Unfortunately, I can hardly promise that President Luthor will allow renegades and savages to control three whole states. If I am correct, Your Navajos are claiming both Arizona and New Mexico?"

"That's right." Buddy nodded sharply. "And I don't recal asking you to promise anything. I simply informed you what we would do if you moved against either them or Utah!"

"And do you agree to stay south and west of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi?" Masterson demanded, his tight lips an indication that he was just barely holding his temper.

"Hardly." Buddy laughed. "If we get calls for help from north of the line, we'll damned sure help. If some one up there wants fire arms, we'll furnish them. And if we even think your people are starting to push further south than Ohio and West Virginia we'll be there to meet you!"

"That is hardly fair, General!" Masterson protested.

"It's the only game in town, General. Take it or leave it."

Masterson struggled to regain his temper and looked to the fatigued woman. Finally recognition dawned.

"Your majesty." He bowed and, when he straightened, smiled. "I have also been instructed to contact you and your people. It is President Luthor's belief that you have some how come across some erroneous information." A side long glance to Buddy showed where such information could have come from "President Luthor wishes to extend to you and your councilors an invitation to be his guest in the New White House in Metropolis. He would like an opportunity to present his plans for rebuilding this nation and then the world and would appreciate your valued suggestions."

"You may tell your President this!" Hippolyota drew herself up, looking every bit the queen, despite her current attire. ""You can tell him that the Amazon Queen and the Amazons reject the words of the one who defiled the body of the Queen's Daughter. There will be peace between Luthor and the Amazons when the sword of the queen has removed his head from his body and not before!"

She cast a glance around , noting the looks of approval in the eyes of her ever present personal guard. It had amused her that her guard and Buddy's Rita had come to a quick understanding. The small Rebel was already training them in the use of modern weaponry and tactics and the captain of the guard willingly deferred to the Rebel in all matters pertaining to the well being of both Buddy and her Queen. She made a mental note to speak with the captain and discover the best way to integrate Rita into the guard for she was now certain that she would remain with the Rebels and with Buddy. Whether he knew it or not, Buddy Raines was soon to become a King. The very first King of the Amazons!

"The Amazons have cast their lots with General Raines and we shall abide by what ever terms of truce he agrees to." She summed up her thoughts to Masterson. "To that effect, you and your president can safely assume that when you treat with General Raines, you treat with me." She fell silent and waited to discover what Masterson's reply would be.

The General drew in a deep breath, looking around and noticing the number of weapons that were not quite pointed in his general direction, a fact the white faced driver of his jeep had long noticed.

"Very well." He finally broke the long silence. "Perhaps we will talk later. For now, your terms are agreed upon. But know this, Genereal Raines, President Luthor is determined to make this nation whole again and will not leave you to run amok among these southern states for long. It would be to your benefit and the well being of all these people to consider this very carefully."

"Consider it considered." Buddy drawled. "Now, General, I believe it's about time you left and reported back to your master."

"Goddamn you Raines." Masterson hissed as he climbed back into his jeep. "You've had your chance. And we're giving you more time than we should, But you can count on this. I will crush you . You and your damned Rebels."

"You can try, General. You can try." Buddy smiled. Hippolyota moved a bit closer and Buddy was not even aware of the way his arm slipped around her waist.

The movement was not, however, lost on Rita and the Amazon Guards, all of whom exchanged amused, knowing looks. Nor was it lost on Masterson who, with a sharp jerk of his head, ordered the driver to pull out.

"What now, Boss?" Rita ventured as the jeep pulled out of sight, heading north.

"First, make sure General Masterson is followed. I don't want him doubling back and causing any problems."

"Well duh." Rita grimaced. "I meant the overall picture."

"We do what needs to be done, short stuff." Buddy grew serious. "We rebuild and we get ready. Sooner or later Luthor will try something and we will have to face him. One way or another."

"Are we going to abide by the truce?"

"Yes, Yes we will." Buddy frowned. "I don't like the idea of leaving those people up there under Luthor's thumb, but right now all we would accomplish would be the destruction of both forces, nothing more." Buddy turned and looked out of the rebels and Amazons that were starting to gather around him. "Get some leaflets printed up, detailing the truce and have them dropped over the states Luthor controls and those we control as well as the states between us.. At least we can let people know what is going on and give them a choice. Make sure you include the re worked Tri-State Manifesto we worked up. Those that want to live according to that, can make their way to our lines, and those that would rather live under Luthor had best get moving north, they will find little welcome here."

"I'm on it, Boss!" Betsy, who had joined the crowd, took off at a run, her mouth pulled up in a wide, knowing grin.

"Hold it!" Buddy called out, halting her in her tracts. "Get that HQ Brigade together and have them come up with some method of holding a presidential election in the states we are claiming."

"What states are those, Boss?" Rita asked. Buddy thought for a moment and then started ticking of the states on his fingers.

"Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The States of New York, Maine,West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts belong to the New US under Lex Luthor. The states between us and them should be considered a No Man's Land. We won't worry about Colorado, Utah, Arizona or New Mexico. And who the hell knows what is going on with the rest of the states, especially Alaska and Hawaii." He paused and took a breath and smiled grimly. "It's a messed up world, isn't it?"

"But we're working to put it back together." Rita protested.

"But are we working to put it back the way it was?" Betsy asked, her look thoughtful.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we are trying to restore a basic Republic, right?" She spread her hands. "What is to stop it from becoming like the old United States?"

"What would you suggest?" Buddy crossed his arms and gazed at his communications tech.

"Boss, You don't get everything your teams report, but I see everything that comes through." She looked extremely uncomfortable. "And what we are seeing is that many of the people are sick and tired of so-called Republics that go further and further away from the concepts of freedom." She took a deep breath. "Believe it or not, what we are coming up with is that people would prefer a limited form of Monarchy!"

"What!" Buddy stood up straight, glaring now.

"That's it, Boss." Betsy refused to back down. "People want their freedom, hell, their damned near Libertarian in that sense, and they want their individual freedoms guaranteed, but they don't want the haggle of politicians and such. They would rather there were some one in charge…a leader that could make needed decisions with out having to beg and plead with a congress to get anything done."

"Oh Really?"

"Yes sir." She took a deep breath and then took the plunge. "Our intelligence and political teams have gotten together and come up with, I believe, to be a working model of what it is the people are looking for. A constitutional Monarchy.!"

"With a populace armed to the teeth, that might actually work, Boss!' Rita mused, surprising everyone. "Think about it. So long as there is something similar to the Bill of rights, guaranteeing certain freedoms, such as the right to bear arms, the freedom of speech, etc, all written in plain English so some legal leach can't come along hundereds of years from now and say it means something else, then the populace would not have to worry much about a potential Tyranny. They could overthrow the government at any time. After all, isn't that what you and your father advocated to begin with? An armed populace that could get rid of a bad government and replace it if they so chose?"

"They make a good point, Ben." Hippolyota spoke up, using Buddy's given name…a fact that brought secret smiles to everyone…. "And we Amazons have experience. Amazons are armed and, if they wished, could at any time have replaced me as their Queen!"

"No!" Buddy's hand slashed through the air, as if to cut the conversation off. "Absolutely not! We will advocate a Republic and that is the end of it! Understood?"

"Certainly Boss!" Rita was the first to respond, trying hard not to smile.

"Oh of course, Boss!." Betsy chimed in, her eyes twinkling.

"But of course, Ben." Hippolyota agreed, completely straight faced.

Buddy glared at them and then started to walk off muttering.

"Your Majesty?" One of the Amazon women called out.

"What?" Buddy spun around

"Your Command Center is that way, Sire!" She made no effort to hider her amusement as she pointed in a direction completely opposite of the one Buddy had started off in.

Buddy grunted and started heading in the right direction and then stopped again, turning.

"What the hell did you call me?" He demanded. He was greeted with gales of laughter from the surrounding Rebels and Amazons.

End of _**The Battle Begins**_.


End file.
